(Ken Silva, Headline USA) On Friday, conservative journalist Tucker Carlson reported on a trove of previously unpublicized internet activity by alleged would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks. Among numerous other revelations, Carlson revealed that Crooks used a PayPal account with the alias “Rod Swanson”—the same name as a former FBI agent who went on to investigate the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
The New York Post was the first to notice that the Crooks PayPal account may have been named after the former FBI agent, Swanson, who was the chief of investigations for the state of Nevada during the 2017 Las Vegas incident—the deadliest mass shooting in history. Like with Crooks and his alleged July 13, 2024, assassination attempt, the FBI never revealed a motive for Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock.
Crooks's PayPal alias had same name as an ex-FBI agent who served on Mueller's detail, was a firearms instructor in Pennsylvania, and who went on to investigate the Las Vegas shooting
The Post contacted the ex-agent, who said Crooks's online activity would definitely been flagged https://t.co/Py3UDHZBdx pic.twitter.com/tlef3TPfp5— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 17, 2025
Columnist Miranda Devine also reported Monday that Swanson served on former FBI Director Robert Mueller’s security detail and as a firearms instructor in Pennsylvania. Devine contacted Swanson, who said he was surprised at Crooks using his name, and that Crooks’s activity must have put him on law enforcement’s radar.
“No matter how ridiculous the allegation, no matter if it’s COVID or not, somebody is going to knock on somebody’s door,” Swanson reportedly said. “If they investigated that kid there’s a record of it and there’s an assessment that some leader made that this was not a threat or it rose to a level and they did something else.”
Additionally, the Post reported Monday that Crooks used “they/them” pronouns on the account DeviantArt, which is known for hosting sexually charged “furry” content. Crooks, who didn’t appear trans in the most recent pictures of him, may have been trolling by using the “they/them” pronouns. Screenshots of his DeviantArt account released by independent journalist Breanna Morello are far from furry porn—depicting graphically violent scenes instead.
Watch the full Carlson investigation here:
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
