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Facebook posts

stated on July 14, 2024 in a post:

Thomas Crooks “was a registered Democrat who voted for Clinton and Biden.”

By Grace Abels July 15, 2024

Claim that 20-year-old Trump rally shooter voted for Clinton is Pants on Fire!

If Your Time is short

The FBI confirmed that the individual who fired shots at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally was 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Crooks would have been too young to vote in the 2016 or 2020 elections.
Pennsylvania voting records show that Crooks was a registered Republican.

See the sources for this fact-check

Since shots were fired at former President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally July 13, social media has been saturated with speculation about the shooter’s motive.

"Thomas Matthew Crooks is the shooter who tried to assassinate Trump," wrote a Facebook user in a viral post. "He was a registered Democrat who voted for Clinton and Biden."

But on this claim, the math doesn't add up.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The FBI identified Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the suspected shooter. Secret Service agents killed Crooks moments after they said he fired toward Trump. Pennsylvania voter registration records show that a person by that name from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was born Sept. 20, 2003, and registered as a Republican.

He would have been 13 years old during the 2016 election when Hillary Clinton was running against Trump for president and 17 years old during the 2020 election when Joe Biden was running against Trump for president. And Bill Clinton's elections for president happened before Crooks was born.

Instagram posts

stated on July 9, 2024 in an Instagram video

CNN producer “caught on hot mic” commenting on Maxine Waters’ “wig problem.”

Abigail Gardner, communications director for Allegheny County where Crooks was registered, confirmed he first registered to vote on Sept. 28, 2021, and voted only once, in the 2022 general election.

This upcoming presidential election would have been the first in which he could have voted.

The full picture of his political leanings remain unclear. Federal Election Commision records show he donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a Democrat PAC, on Jan. 20, 2021, the day of Biden’s inauguration.

The rest of the Facebook post makes currently unsubstantiated claims that Crooks is affiliated with antifa, which is short for "anti-fascists." The term is used to describe a broad, loosely affiliated coalition of left-wing activists. The post also included images that PolitiFact has confirmed are not photos of Crooks.

As of July 14, the FBI was investigating the shooting as a possible "assassination attempt" or "domestic terrorism," but had not identified a motive. The FBI stated that the shooter appeared to be acting alone.

According to voting records, Crooks was registered as a Republican, not a Democrat, and at age 20 he would have been too young to vote for either Clinton or Biden. We rate this claim Pants on Fire!