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Fox News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Report gives new details on Trump assassination attempt suspect's 'descent into madness'
The 20-year-old gunman who tried to assassinate President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer experienced a "descent into madness" leading up to the incident, during which he was "having conversations with someone that wasn't there," a new report says. The New York Times, citing thousands of pages of school assignments, internet activity logs and interviews with dozens of people who knew Thomas Matthew Crooks and the investigation surrounding him, among other documents, reported this week that "he went through a gradual and largely hidden transformation from a meek engineering student critical of political polarization to a focused killer who tried to build bombs." "There was a mysteriousness to Thomas Crooks's descent into madness," Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who served on a Congressional task force that investigated the July 13, 2024 shooting, told the newspaper. He was "having conversations with someone that wasn't there," Higgins added, after learning information about Crooks' mental health during a trip to Pennsylvania to investigate the assassination attempt. TEXTS REVEAL OFFICERS WERE AWARE OF THOMAS CROOKS 90 MINUTES BEFORE SHOOTING Prior to the shooting targeting Trump, the only time Crooks got into trouble was receiving lunch detention in middle school for chewing gum, according to the New York Times. The newspaper reported that Crooks scored 1530 out of a possible 1600 on the SAT and graduated from the Community College of Allegheny County, where he spent several semesters on the dean's list while earning an engineering degree. He was preparing to transfer to Robert Morris University located outside of Pittsburgh, telling classmates he wanted to have a career in aerospace or robotics, the newspaper added. However, Crooks' father noticed his son's mental health taking a turn in the year before the shooting and especially after the May 2024 graduation, telling investigators he had seen Thomas talking to himself and dancing around in his bedroom late at night, the newspaper said. The alleged behavior coincided with a history of mental health and addiction struggles in Crooks' family, the New York Times reported, citing portions of a report from the Pennsylvania State Police. A classmate said to the newspaper that during high school, Crooks enjoyed talking about the economy and cryptocurrencies. At community college, he reportedly designed a chess board for the visually impaired, such as his mother, the New York Times added. "He seemed like a really intelligent kid – I thought he would be able to do whatever he wanted," Trish Thompson, who taught Crooks' engineering at the Community College of Allegheny County, told the newspaper. About a year before graduation, in April 2023, Crooks reportedly wrote an essay in favor of ranked-choice voting in American politics, arguing against "divisive and incendiary campaigns which are pulling the country apart." "As we move closer to the 2024 elections we should consider carefully the means by which we elect our officials," Crooks was quoted by the New York Times as saying. "We need an election system that promotes kindness and cooperation instead of division and anger." ATTEMPTED TRUMP ASSASSIN SEEN WALKING AROUND PENNSYLVANIA RALLY HOURS BEFORE OPENING FIRE Around that same time, the FBI said, Crooks made more than 25 different firearm-related purchases from online vendors using an alias. One purchase that Crooks made with an encrypted email address was gallons of nitromethane, a fuel additive that can be used to build explosives, according to the New York Times. He reportedly listed his home address for the delivery. In the summer of 2023, Crooks joined a local gun club, the New York Times reported. The newspaper added that Crooks visited news and gun websites, as well as the Trump administration's archives, before narrowing his online searches in the days leading up to the attack to queries such as 'How far was Oswald from Kennedy?'" Searches also included "major depressive disorder" and "depression crisis," the Times said. He also reportedly continued to show up for his job as a dietary aide at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the weeks leading up to the Trump assassination attempt. On the night of the shooting, ATF agents visited Crooks' home in Bethel Park but had to evacuate after one spotted an ammunition can "with a white wire coming out" and a gallon jug labeled "nitromethane" in his closet, according to the New York Times. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Outside the property, agents then interviewed Crooks' parents, with them saying he liked building things and visiting the gun range, and his father also reportedly claiming that he did not "know anything" about his son.
American Press
25-06-2025
- Business
- American Press
Higgins, Ezell introduce legislation to support dredging workforce
U.S. Congressman Clay Higgins visits the Port of Lake Charles after securing additional funds for dredging the Calcasieu Ship Channel. (Rick Hickman / American Press Archives) Special to the American Press U.S. Congressman Clay Higgins, R-La., and Congressman Mike Ezell, R-Miss., have introduced the Industrial Certification for Coast Guard Veterans Act, which would expand opportunities for U.S. Coast Guard personnel to transition to the dredging sector upon completion of their service. The bill directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to produce a report analyzing the transferability of Coast Guard skills to the dredging industry. The report would identify recruitment strategies to connect with retiring Coast Guard personnel, evaluate the potential for credentialing or certification programs, and outline any existing or planned coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 'The dredging and maintenance of America's ports and waterways is critical to our economic and national security,' Higgins said. 'This legislation prioritizes workforce development efforts for the dredging industry in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard. We're exploring opportunities for retiring Coast Guard personnel to transition their skills into the private sector, all while supporting efforts to maintain our maritime infrastructure.' 'As Chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, I've seen firsthand the talent and expertise our Coast Guard members bring to the table,' Ezell said. 'The Industrial Certification for Coast Guard Veterans Act will help ensure those skills don't go to waste after service. By identifying pathways into the dredging sector, this bill supports our veterans, strengthens our maritime workforce, and reinforces our commitment to maintaining vital infrastructure across the country.'
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republicans, including Sen. Lee, push to rein in D.C. sanctuary policies as anti-ICE protests heat up
WASHINGTON — A local law preventing D.C. police from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on deportations could be overturned as congressional Republicans seek to rein in sanctuary city policies nationwide. The House passed the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act on Thursday, seeking to end sanctuary policies that block D.C. police from assisting ICE with arrests and bans. The bill would also overturn local laws prohibiting city officials from releasing detained individuals to ICE or allowing ICE to interview a suspect in D.C. custody without a judicial order. 'My bill requires the District of Columbia to comply with federal immigration law. What's wrong with that?' Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who led the bill, said in a floor speech on Wednesday. 'We shouldn't have to bring this to the floor. We shouldn't have to explain these things. But we are going to ... require that our nation's capital comply with our nation's federal law.' The bill was introduced in early March, but its passage comes as immigration law enforcement and sanctuary city policies have become a political flashpoint in recent days. Protests and riots broke out in Los Angeles last weekend after ICE agents carried out raids in several locations across the city, prompting outrage from city residents. Although protests began peacefully, several turned violent after local law enforcement was called in to help quell the crowds. The protests have since spread across the country, and Republicans have renewed their calls to crack down on sanctuary city policies by urging stricter enforcement of immigration policies. 'It's sad that Gov. Newsom and Mayor Bass decided it was more important to refuse cooperation with ICE and posture against President Trump than make LA safe,' Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told the Deseret News in a statement. 'I hope other blue states and cities avoid this mess by complying with federal immigration law and not tolerating any rioting or violence.' Lee has been at the forefront of reining in the D.C. government, hoping to reassert congressional authority over the nation's capital. Lee has consistently introduced legislation that would end the city's autonomy and has also promoted the BOWSER Act — ironically named after the city's mayor — to reclaim authority over the city's public safety. 'I'm glad that the House of Representatives is considering the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act, so that our nation's capital can set a better example,' Lee said. 'The D.C. Council has proven itself incapable of keeping the city safe, and my BOWSER Act handing the reins back to Congress is our best bet to restore dignity and order to Washington.' Republicans have pushed for years to claw back D.C.'s autonomy by overturning the Home Rule Act. Despite not being a state, Washington is permitted to operate as an independent city government under the D.C. Home Rule Act. However, local laws are still subject to congressional approval before they can take effect, occasionally setting up showdowns between Congress and local lawmakers. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., has been a leading voice on that issue in the House, successfully passing a bill in 2022 that would repeal the amended criminal code for the district that he argued was too soft on crime. That bill passed both chambers of Congress despite Democratic control of the Senate and was eventually signed by former President Joe Biden. President Donald Trump has expressed support for reining in D.C.'s local control, paving the way for Republicans to use their GOP trifecta in Washington to do so. 'I remain committed to reforming the unconstitutional and failed experiment of D.C. Home Rule,' Clyde told the Deseret News in a statement. 'Our nation's capital city is still in dire need of strong leadership and commonsense policies. Congress must continue using its constitutional authority over Washington's affairs to ensure America's capital city is a safe and prosperous place for years to come.' The bill now heads to the Senate, where it will require at least seven Democrats to buck party lines to support the measure. However, Democrats have supported bills to rein in the D.C. government before — and 11 Democrats in the House voted in favor of the bill on Thursday.
Washington Post
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
House votes to nullify D.C.'s ‘sanctuary city' law
House lawmakers voted Thursday to nullify D.C.'s 'sanctuary city' law and mandate the city's cooperation with federal immigration authorities, at a time when the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration has spread fear and anxiety across the region's immigrant communities. The vote was the third this week in which bipartisan House lawmakers advanced a repeal of a D.C. policy, all three of which must still head to the Senate for consideration. It was also the second bill involving immigrants in D.C., underscoring House Republicans' willingness to carry out President Donald Trump's priorities in the one place where they have direct power over local policy, the District, and on one of Trump's top agenda items: immigration enforcement. 'We are going to, by God, require that our nation's capital comply with our nation's federal laws,' said Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana), who led the bill that would effectively nullify D.C.'s Sanctuary Values Amendment Act. D.C. officials maintain that they already comply with federal immigration law and lawful requests when federal authorities present a warrant or judicial order and that they don't expect the legislation to cause any significant change. D.C.'s Sanctuary Values Amendment Act placed guardrails on cooperation with the feds but does not refuse it. This year in Congress has been among the most tumultuous for D.C., particularly after Congress slashed the city's 2025 budget by over $1 billion. Despite a unanimous vote to fix that cut in the Senate and support from Trump to fix it as well, House GOP leadership has not moved to restore the funds, instead taking up a steady drumbeat of bills intervening in D.C. policy. The House also voted this week in favor of repealing both D.C.'s law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections and another that prohibits the police union from bargaining on officer discipline. On Thursday, House lawmakers voted 224-194 to mandate that D.C. cooperate with immigration enforcement, such as requiring the D.C. jail to comply with requests to detain someone or provide information about a person's immigration status. Eleven Democrats joined Republicans in the vote. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Massachusetts), who led debate against the bill for Democrats and made an impassioned plea for D.C. home rule, said the District does comply with federal immigration law — officials simply do not go out of their way to use local resources to do favors for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 'Mayors, police chiefs, sheriffs and local leaders across the country have made clear that the way to combat violent crime is allowing local police to do their jobs of ensuring public safety in their own communities, not commandeering local police to spend limited time and resources rounding up and detaining nonviolent immigrants who pose no threat,' he said. Immigration has been a highly sensitive issue even among local officials in D.C. — Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) had already proposed repealing D.C.'s sanctuary city law in her 2026 budget proposal, drawing outcry from immigrant rights advocates. The mayor has for months been seeking to avoid inflaming tensions with the Trump administration given D.C.'s unique vulnerability to federal intervention; Congress oversees the city under the Constitution. Trump had threatened consequences for any cities that have similar laws or resist immigration enforcement, part of a nationwide effort to ramp up enforcement, and included the District on a list among dozens of localities across the country. Bowser has stopped calling D.C. a 'sanctuary city,' saying it wrongly suggests the District can protect undocumented immigrants from deportation — a stark contrast from her posture during Trump's first term, when she advertised D.C. as a sanctuary city in an apparent resistance to Trump's immigration agenda. The D.C. Council passed legislation in 2020 writing that policy into law. Unless ICE has a judicial order, the law prohibits local officials from cooperating with ICE, including to detain a person in jail past their release date for ICE, inquire about their immigration status or allow federal immigration authorities access to people in the jail or information about their release date and location. Higgins's bill would mandate that type of cooperation — as long as ICE makes lawful requests. Higgins, who has a law enforcement background, initially included an exception in the bill that would allow D.C. to resist cooperation with ICE if the person ICE inquired about was a crime victim or witness. The provision apparently sought to assuage concerns that undocumented immigrants may be deterred from cooperating with police if they fear police will give them up to ICE. But Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, included an amendment to remove that exemption. A spokesman for the committee said the Republican conference's position has 'shifted,' explaining that the party became concerned that the exemption could be 'abused by local officials to try and tie the hands of ICE officials enforcing federal law.' 'The thought was the exception in the original bill was overly broad,' Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) added during a hearing Monday. 'Someone could claim to witness a speeding ticket, and police would withhold their information from ICE.' Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) argued the amendment suggested that Republicans do not care about public safety in D.C. — 'deportation is all that they care about.' 'This is shameful,' McGovern said, 'not only on a human level but also from a law enforcement perspective. This would discourage the victims of crimes like sexual assault or robbery from coming forward or discourage witnesses from coming to the police to help solve those crimes.' The D.C. Council and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) urged Congress not to repeal the law and leave law enforcement decisions to D.C. police. Bowser did not join those letters but, asked for her position on the bill, told reporters she opposes all congressional interference in D.C. policy. Abel Nuñez, executive director of CARECEN, an organization aiding immigrants in the D.C. area, said the sanctuary city law was always more of a signal than a policy that had caused significant change — as would be its repeal. The law, he said, was never about directing D.C. police to 'fight ICE,' since police and the jail would still comply with any lawful orders; it was about making people feel safe to call the police or cooperate in investigations. 'It's important for the sanctuary bill to remain because it's a symbolic measure of a city telling all of its residents, 'Look, we don't care about your status. What we care about is public safety,'' he said. Trump already pushed the District to do more to cooperate with federal immigration authorities through his March executive order to make the District 'safe and beautiful,' which included provisions to monitor D.C.'s status as a sanctuary city and 'maximize' immigration enforcement resources, including through cooperation with local authorities. In a letter to the federal task force that Trump's order created, Bowser said that D.C. police comply 'with all court orders' but that police would not hold arrestees in jail beyond initial processing, which takes several hours. She added that for more than two decades the Metropolitan Police Department's policy 'has been to not ask individuals about their immigration status.' 'As law enforcement, MPD knows that when there are groups of people who hesitate to report crime to the police, they often become targets for serious crime,' Bowser wrote. 'Allowing that to flourish makes everyone in the city unsafe.' Officials in the mayor's office reiterated that D.C. police would not begin asking people about their immigration status should the bill pass. Immigrant rights advocates protested outside the Wilson Building last week against Bowser's decision to propose a repeal of the city's sanctuary city law as part of her budget, while figures including the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and leadership of the local Service Employees International Union condemned the mayor's decision, the latter calling her 'complicit with Trump.' Bowser told reporters that she believed D.C.'s Sanctuary Values Amendment Act was 'misnamed and misplaced' and said she was questioning whether it should have been codified in law; she signed it into law in 2020. 'I think this is a good time to repeal that and work with the council on what we really need our local law to say,' she said. She noted that the city's policy for years was to not hold suspected undocumented immigrants in jail for ICE longer than 48 hours or without a valid warrant after her predecessor, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), issued a mayoral order laying out that policy. Bowser said that she believed a mayor's order was a better home for the policy and that Gray's was never rescinded. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said he would 'probably not support' Bowser's repeal proposal. He added that if federal immigration authorities present a lawful judicial order, 'then we will of course cooperate. And I think that's a completely defensible position.' Prospects for the bills in the Senate are unclear given the Senate does not always prioritize D.C. legislation. D.C. shadow senator Ankit Jain said he was actively working to shore up Democratic opposition to the efforts, which must still face the Senate filibuster. Seven Democrats would have to join Republicans to overcome it. Jenny Gathright contributed to this report.
Fox News
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Report gives new details on Trump assassination attempt suspect's 'descent into madness'
The 20-year-old gunman who tried to assassinate President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer experienced a "descent into madness" leading up to the incident, during which he was "having conversations with someone that wasn't there," a new report says. The New York Times, citing thousands of pages of school assignments, internet activity logs and interviews with dozens of people who knew Thomas Matthew Crooks and the investigation surrounding him, among other documents, reported this week that "he went through a gradual and largely hidden transformation from a meek engineering student critical of political polarization to a focused killer who tried to build bombs." "There was a mysteriousness to Thomas Crooks's descent into madness," Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who served on a Congressional task force that investigated the July 13, 2024 shooting, told the newspaper. He was "having conversations with someone that wasn't there," Higgins added, after learning information about Crooks' mental health during a trip to Pennsylvania to investigate the assassination attempt. Prior to the shooting targeting Trump, the only time Crooks got into trouble was receiving lunch detention in middle school for chewing gum, according to the New York Times. The newspaper reported that Crooks scored 1530 out of a possible 1600 on the SAT and graduated from the Community College of Allegheny County, where he spent several semesters on the dean's list while earning an engineering degree. He was preparing to transfer to Robert Morris University located outside of Pittsburgh, telling classmates he wanted to have a career in aerospace or robotics, the newspaper added. However, Crooks' father noticed his son's mental health taking a turn in the year before the shooting and especially after the May 2024 graduation, telling investigators he had seen Thomas talking to himself and dancing around in his bedroom late at night, the newspaper said. The alleged behavior coincided with a history of mental health and addiction struggles in Crooks' family, the New York Times reported, citing portions of a report from the Pennsylvania State Police. A classmate said to the newspaper that during high school, Crooks enjoyed talking about the economy and cryptocurrencies. At community college, he reportedly designed a chess board for the visually impaired, such as his mother, the New York Times added. "He seemed like a really intelligent kid – I thought he would be able to do whatever he wanted," Trish Thompson, who taught Crooks' engineering at the Community College of Allegheny County, told the newspaper. About a year before graduation, in April 2023, Crooks reportedly wrote an essay in favor of ranked-choice voting in American politics, arguing against "divisive and incendiary campaigns which are pulling the country apart." "As we move closer to the 2024 elections we should consider carefully the means by which we elect our officials," Crooks was quoted by the New York Times as saying. "We need an election system that promotes kindness and cooperation instead of division and anger." Around that same time, the FBI said, Crooks made more than 25 different firearm-related purchases from online vendors using an alias. One purchase that Crooks made with an encrypted email address was gallons of nitromethane, a fuel additive that can be used to build explosives, according to the New York Times. He reportedly listed his home address for the delivery. In the summer of 2023, Crooks joined a local gun club, the New York Times reported. The newspaper added that Crooks visited news and gun websites, as well as the Trump administration's archives, before narrowing his online searches in the days leading up to the attack to queries such as 'How far was Oswald from Kennedy?'" Searches also included "major depressive disorder" and "depression crisis," the Times said. He also reportedly continued to show up for his job as a dietary aide at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the weeks leading up to the Trump assassination attempt. On the night of the shooting, ATF agents visited Crooks' home in Bethel Park but had to evacuate after one spotted an ammunition can "with a white wire coming out" and a gallon jug labeled "nitromethane" in his closet, according to the New York Times. Outside the property, agents then interviewed Crooks' parents, with them saying he liked building things and visiting the gun range, and his father also reportedly claiming that he did not "know anything" about his son.
