EXCLUSIVE Father of Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks hires powerhouse criminal lawyer as FBI intensifies investigation into his role in son’s assassination attempt
The parents of Trump shooter Thomas Crooks have hired a team of powerhouse attorneys as the FBI continues to investigate just how much they knew ahead of their son’s assassination attempt on the former president, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.
The development comes as one family member shared with DailyMail.com that the FBI, ‘still very much has questions’ regarding how much the killer’s parents knew – while revealing that his father Matthew Crooks, 53, is a gun enthusiast who has sold firearms to relatives in the past.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, the family member who asked not to be named said, ‘The FBI still very much has questions about how much they knew and how he [Thomas] slipped through the net.’
The idea that someone may have assisted Thomas Crooks was given new credence on Thursday by Florida US Rep. Mike Waltz. In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com he questioned whether the 20-year-old acted alone.
The parents’ choice of law firm suggests that they are bracing for possible criminal charges as well as potential civil action from the families of their son’s other victims.
Quinn Logue, the Pittsburgh-based law firm that Matthew Crooks and his wife Mary, 53, have retained, describe themselves as trial attorneys who specialize in both criminal defense and civil suits including wrongful death and personal injury.
Founding attorneys John Quinn and Matthew Logue have both been recognized among the ‘Top 50 Lawyers in Pittsburgh’ and the firm consistently appears in publications such as Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America.
Exclusive pictures obtained by DailyMail.com on Tuesday and Wednesday show Matthew Crooks for the first time since it emerged that his son had been quietly cremated ten days after the shooting.
Crooks, 53, clutched a mystery manila kraft clasp envelope both times.
Dressed in a flatcap, blue t-shirt and khakis on Wednesday, he walked swiftly from his truck into the family’s bungalow home in a quiet neighborhood in Bethel Park.
He did not respond to DailyMail.com’s attempts to elicit any comment on his son’s possible motives or the events leading up to the shooting.
Crooks was also seen outside the home on Tuesday, wearing a dark t-shirt with blue jeans and the same flatcap as Wednesday.
It has been six weeks since his 20-year-old son opened fire on Trump’s rally on July 13 at Butler Farm Show Grounds at 6.11pm and came within a quarter of an inch of ending the former president’s life as he made his bid for re-election.
Crooks was ‘neutralized’ by a Secret Service sniper 26 seconds after he first shot.
By then he had already fired eight bullets. He hit Trump, 78, in a grazing shot to his right ear, struck retired fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, in the head, killing him, and grievously wounded audience members James Copenhaver, 74, and David Dutch, 57, who suffered ‘life altering’ injuries as a result of the attack.
Troubling details have emerged since the attempted assassination which is also being investigated by a House task force consisting of 12 lawmakers.
Among them is Republican congressman Waltz, who says he is not convinced the shooter acted alone.
Speaking to DailyMail.com on Thursday, Waltz cast doubt on federal law enforcement’s assertion that he was the sole perpetrator, pointing to their failure to answer other questions like why he had foreign encrypted messaging accounts.
Crooks was also able to create multiple explosives with remote detonators, another thing that raised Waltz’s eyebrows.
‘You can’t tell us his motive, but you could tell us he operated alone?’ the Florida Republican questioned. ‘You can’t get into these encrypted overseas accounts, but you can tell us he acted alone?’
‘So, I don’t buy that yet.’
According to CNN, Crooks’s parents had attempted to reach their son when they could not find him earlier that day, but he did not respond.
They then called law enforcement to tell them that their son was missing. It is not known whether they were aware that he was armed.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
