(MENAFN- Live Mint) New details have emerged about Thomas Crooks, the man who attempted to assassinate then-former US President Donald Trump in the run-up the 2024 Presidential Elections, with the latest revelations shedding light on the failed assassin's political and sexual inclinations, personal views, and other habits.

According to a report by The New York Post, suspected messages from Crooks' secret social media accounts revealed that the 20-year-old posted threats of political violence and violent art over the years, and even drew inspiration from Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong.

Crooks' search history also revealed that the failed assassin had a 'muscle mommy' fetish, and repeatedly searched for videos of muscular women and female bodybuilders.

He also used they/them pronouns across many of his accounts, although whether he identified as transgender is yet to be ascertained.

Also Read | Inside the 20-point plan as UN gives nod to Trump's Gaza blueprint From pro-Trump to anti-Trump

The new report cited online evidence of Crooks' shifting political views over the years, highlighting his transformation from a Trump loyalist to someone who attempted to assassinate the to-be President of the United States.

NY Post reported that Crooks' early online presence, when he would have been in high school, was almost exclusively dominated by pro-Trump views.

This phase of Crooks' life also saw the failed assassin making violent antisemitic comments and racist remarks about Hispanic immigrants.

In one instance, a YouTube accounting featuring Crooks' full name commented on a video of Trump being booed during the 2019 World Series, wherein the now-deceased 20-year-old wrote, "I always believed being patriotic was lining up a bunch of socialist Jews (like the ones that booed Trump) and blasting their useless brains out with an AR."

Also Read | Bill Clinton's team dismisses Trump's Epstein probe push as 'noise'

In another instance, commenting on an MSNBC clip from 2019, Crooks wrote,“Everyone of the trump hating democrats deserve to have their heads chopped of and put on steaks for the world to see what happens when you f–k with America [sic]."

In yet another comment from 2019, Crooks wrote, "I hope a quick painful death to all the deplorable immigrants and anti-trump congresswoman who dont deserve anything this countru has given them [sic]."

Crooks reportedly also harboured fantasies about emptying an assault rifle into a crowd of political opponents, and frequently quoted Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong-"The only true political power comes from the barrel of a gun."

The 20-year-old's views about Trump, however, appeared to shift during the Covid-19 pandemic, during which he lashed out against Trump's resistance to enacting social distancing norms and preventing public gatherings.

In a YouTube comment from February 2020, Crooks reportedly said, "I'm pretty sure people are just racist and Trump is one of them, there does not need to be a deep state for that [sic]."

In April the same year, Crooks also reportedly claimed that the Republican President was "too slow and everything he's doing now should have been done". He added that "there wasn't any reasonable defense for Trump", according to the NY Post report.

Also Read | Trump open to backing sanctions on Russia's trade partners Violent art, obsession with guns

Around the time Crooks' views on Trump began to shift, he started posting violent artwork on social media, reported NY Post.

Crooks, who reportedly had two possible accounts on DeviantArt, posted violent works of art on the platform.

In June 2023, he posted a photo titled 'How he lost his eye', showing a person dressed in black executing another person in front of the a blue and pink backdrop, colours that match that of the trans pride flag.

Later in the same month, Crooks posted another photo showing a figure with a purple head getting their had bashed in with a metal pipe.

The following month, the failed assassin posted yet another violent artwork, this time showing a figure holding a rifle after fatally shooting two individuals, one of whom was clad in blue and pink clothes.

The publication further reported that Crooks' supposed search history from Google and YouTube revealed that he had an obsession with famous assassinations and violent attacks, and made searches for John F Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's killer Jack Ruby, the Oklahoma bombing of 1995, the Pulse nightclub shooting of 2016, among others.

Crooks also reportedly made searches on how to make fertilizer bombs and Molotov cocktails, while one search queried how to an AR-15 "as fast as possible".

He also looked for information on body armour, high-velocity ammunition for long distance shooting, and riot control.

Also Read | Who is Marjorie Taylor Greene? Trump calls diehard supporter 'ranting lunatic' Hints about what was to come?

In August 2020, Crooks reportedly discussed how to fight a government using "terrorism style tactics" on YouTube, writing,“IMO the only way to fight the gov is with terrorism style attacks, sneak a bomb into an essential building and set it off before anyone sees you, track down any important people/politicians/military leaders etc and try to assassinate them [sic]."

The 20-year-old also predicted that such an act of resistance would likely result in the person's death-“Any sort of head-to-head fight is suicide, and even ambush/surprise attacks likely aren't going to end well,”

Crooks was shot and killed by a Secret Service agent in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Trump, for which, like his search history revealed, the 20-year-old had used an AR-15 style rifle.

During the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024, Crooks fired eight shots, hitting Trump's ear, killing a firefighter, and critically wounding two others.

Following the incident, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had said that it had found nothing in Crooks' online history that pointed to a motive for the attempted assassination or a political ideology.

MENAFN17112025007365015876ID1110357852