Current signs don't point to partisanship as Trump shooter's motive, despite Republican claims

As the FBI investigation of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump unfolds, the image of the shooter that comes into focus is that of a lonely young man, possibly struggling with mental illness, who liked guns and had no evident political motive.

After senators were briefed by investigators on July 17, The New York Times reported that the FBI searched 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks' phones, laptop other possessions but "no clear motive for the attack has emerged." A senator at the briefing who spoke to USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity said investigators have interviewed at least 220 people and still haven't uncovered a motive for the attempted assassination.

"There are as many reasons why people commit violence as there are pieces of sand on the beach," Katherine Schweit, a former FBI special agent who authored a study to aid responses to active shooter incidents, told USA TODAY.

"This type of targeted violence is sometimes that they want to be somebody, they want to be back in control of their world," Schweit said. "And then it may be as simple as, 'Who is the closest person that I can try to kill that's going to make my name go down in history?'"

Crooks' web browsing history shows he searched for information on President Joe Biden, the Democratic National Convention, Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and a British royal, according to reporting on the briefing.

This conflicts with the immediate responses to Trump's shooting from some prominent Republicans, who asserted that the shooter was motivated by Democratic condemnation of Trump.

Just hours after a bullet came within an inch of hitting Trump in the head, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said the Biden campaign's rhetoric that Trump "is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs... led directly" to the assassination attempt. Trump subsequently chose Vance as his running mate.

But so far, Vance's analysis hasn't been borne out by the evidence. Vance's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Competing explanations for violence

Vance wasn't the only one to blame political opponents in the wake of the near-deadly assassination attempt.

Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., posted on X that Biden should be "immediately" charged "for inciting an assassination." Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., posted on X that Crooks was "a madman inspired by the rhetoric of the radical left."

Some Trump supporters blamed a mysterious "they" for the attack, including ex-professional wrestler Hulk Hogan at the Republican National Convention on July 18. However, multiple investigators have said evidence so far indicates Crooks acted alone.

Politics isn't the only potential motivator for violence – even violence against a leading presidential candidate.

According to CNN and the Washington Post, officials told lawmakers last week that Crooks searched for information on major depressive disorder and researched high school mass shooter Ethan Crumbley.

Colin Clarke, who researches terrorism and security issues at The Soufan Group consultancy, told USA TODAY the evidence so far indicates Crooks may have been struggling with mental illness and wanted to end his life in a high-profile way.

"I think he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, and it just so happened that Trump was appearing 40 minutes away from where he lived, and it was a target of opportunity more than anything else," Clarke said.

Past attackers of presidents haven't always been politically motivated. John Hinckley Jr., who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, said he wanted to impress Jodie Foster who appeared in the 1976 film "Taxi Driver," which contained a plot line about a planned assassination of a presidential candidate.

Crooks' politics remain unclear

Evidence of Crooks' political views are a mysterious jumble. In January 2021, just one day after Biden's presidential inauguration, Crooks donated $15 to ActBlue, a Democrat-supporting political action committee. However, after he turned 18 later that year, he registered as a Republican.

One former high school classmate told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Crooks, who shot guns in a sportsmen's club, "definitely was conservative."

Describing a classroom debate, the student said, “the majority of the class were on the liberal side, but Tom, no matter what, always stood his ground on the conservative side."

Another former classmate told CNN that Crooks' friend group was conservative, and some of them wore Trump hats. But she and others described him personally as quiet and shy, and none said they knew his political views.

That recollection was echoed by a friend from Crooks' math book club. He recalled to The Wall Street Journal that Crooks would get animated when the group discussed logic concepts but had little to say when conversation turned to politics.

'Where we were just before the insurrection on Jan. 6'

John Horgan, a Georgia State University psychology professor who researches violent extremism, said that while it might be natural to assume that political opponents were behind an attack on a beloved candidate, leaders should avoid making those assertions before there is evidence, as they could foment retaliatory violence.

"That language creates a very, very dangerous set of conditions," Horgan said. "The right wing forums that I'm looking at, the chatter from some on the extreme right about the need to mobilize, the need to prepare for a fight. ... It is a stark reminder of where we were just before the insurrection on Jan. 6."

Baseless claims that Democrats were responsible for the assassination attempt could increase the risk of political violence from Trump's supporters if Trump loses the November election and again falsely claims it was stolen, experts said. Another point of bitterness comes from Trump's criminal woes, including his May conviction on 34 separate counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened his 2016 election chances.

"You have this cumulative effect of all these things that supporters are saying. 'They tried to jail, and then they tried to kill, now they stole the election,' right?" Clarke said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump shooter probe so far shows no partisan motive for Crooks