The FBI had multiple “missed opportunities” to stop Thomas Crooks before he tried to assassinate President Trump, a former assistant director at the Bureau has told The Post.
Last week, The Post reported on multiple extremist social media posts believed to be tied to Crooks, including numerous threats of political violence and a dramatic shift against Trump, after previously expressing his admiration for the Republican.
If even “half” of Trump’s would-be assassin’s extremist digital footprint turns out to be true, he should have been on the FBI’s radar long before the 20-year-old opened fired on the then-presumptive GOP presidential nominee during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, said Chris Swecker, a retired FBI assistant director.
“It’s clear that he was popping off on the social media sites and saying things that should have garnered attention,” Swecker, who served in the FBI for 24 years, said.
“That constitutes a miss on the part of the FBI,” he added, saying that the Bureau’s handling of the investigation earned a “a C- grade.”
“There was a bias in the FBI towards right-wing extremists. And if there was a right-wing extremist ideology, that got surfaced real quick in any of these shootings. But if there was a left-wing extremist ideology driving it, it was glossed over,” Swecker said
He said that view was “shared by a lot of my colleagues” in the FBI.
FBI missed multiple opportunities to stop Thomas Crooks before he tried to assassinate Trump, ex-assistant director says
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