News: The House’s bipartisan task force on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump has obtained a trove of key medical records for the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks. The 20-year-old gunman was killed by a Secret Service counter sniper after he shot at Trump from a rooftop 150 yards away. One person was killed and Trump was injured during the July 13 attack.
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), who chairs the task force, told us the panel issued a subpoena to the Allegheny County medical examiner in order to get their hands on the autopsy report, which he described as “kind of gruesome.” The panel issued the subpoena as a formality, not because the medical examiner was withholding the record.
A spokesperson for the 13-member task force confirmed that the committee has in fact received all the documents they requested in a Sept. 3 letter to the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office and Butler County coroner’s office.
That letter asked for the autopsy report, along with a list of everyone present for the examination; the coroner’s report and toxicology report, including any related “notes, photographs, and recordings;” and all documents related to the recovery of Crooks’ body from the roof and the release of his body from the coroner’s jurisdiction.
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a conspiracy-prone member of the task force, complained in a “preliminary report” to the panel last month that he was unable to examine Crooks’ body personally because it was released to his family for cremation 10 days after the shooting.
While obtaining the medical records was an important step in the investigation, Kelly said “I don’t know that it’s revealing in any sort of way, because you’re not going to find out much about his past, or what was his thinking the day he did all that” through those reports. The FBI, which is still investigating the case, has been unable to pinpoint a motive, though officials have testified that Crooks acted alone.
Kelly did say, however, that the FBI told them that Crooks started exhibiting strange behavior in the days leading up to the shooting, such as “walking around the [h]ouse talking to himself” and “flapping his arms,” raising questions about what potential warning signs were missed. “There was some indication that something was wrong,” Kelly said.
Kelly is aiming to have their first public hearing in two weeks, although the Pennsylvania Republican said nothing has been set in stone yet. “We’re milling some things around to see who we can get,” Kelly said. “Of course, we have the ability to subpoena people, too. So it’s going to be a little bit easier.”
