(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A video posted Monday by an anonymous social media account named “IronClad_USA” appears to show Thomas Crooks strolling around the Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally site nearly two hours before he attempted to assassinate Donald Trump.
Along with providing perhaps the best view of Crooks to date, the footage undermines a timeline put together by congressional investigators, which is based on information from law enforcement. That’s because the footage seemingly shows Crooks on the opposite the oppositive side of the Trump rally site from where he was initially thought to be.
Indeed, local Butler and Beaver County law enforcement text messages, including one text from a local counter sniper at 4:26 p.m., claiming that Crooks was sitting on the picnic table near the AGR building he would eventually use to shoot at Trump.
The problem with the sniper’s 4:26 p.m. text message, as the new footage suggests, is that was the same exact time Crooks was apparently filmed walking through the vendors section, which was on the opposite end of the site from the AGR building.
🚨Greg Nicol's partner, Jason Woods LIED!!!!🚨
New footage shows Thomas Matthew Crooks walking through the rally at exactly 4:26 PM with Metadata to prove it.
James Woods sent a text that Thomas Matthew Crooks was sitting in the parking lot just one minute later when he left.… pic.twitter.com/BnkA2sM2Tu
— TBern – Truth Seeker (@TBern_) August 20, 2024
For some internet sleuths, the footage of Crooks means that the local sniper must have been lying when he texted at 4:26 p.m. that Crooks was sitting on a picnic table.
However, others questioned the timing of the new footage release. Sleuths have also noted that the account posting the footage hasn’t released the original video. Instead, it’s edited to include the poster’s watermark.
Still others are less interested in Crooks than they are a man walking several feet in front of him, dressed in a button-down T-shirt and slacks.
Neither congressional investigators nor federal or local law enforcement agency have commented on the new footage yet. Headline USA is leaving open the possibility that the footage is entirely doctored, though it appears to be authentic.
In any event, Crooks was back near the AGR building by 5:38 p.m., according to the local snipers’ text messages.
“Kid [lurking] around building we are in. AGR I believe it is. I did see him with a range finder looking towards stage. FYI. If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out. I lost sight of him,” a counter sniper texted at 5:38 p.m., attaching two photos of Crooks.
“Call it in to command and have a uniform check it out.”
What happened between the time of those texts and when Crooks opened fire at 6:11 p.m. is still unclear.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
