No matter how hard one tries, it's never really possible to erase something from the internet.
The latest example: footage of would-be President Donald Trump assassin Thomas Crooks dry-firing a weapon in his bedroom that quickly disappeared off the internet after he was killed by a Secret Service sniper were unearthed and posted on Candace Owens's podcast on Wednesday.
Cell phone video showed a handgun lying neatly atop Crooks's made bed, then progresses to him picking it up and taking a tactical stance as he dry-fires it at a real or imaginary target off-camera.
A second, shorter video showed Crooks again dry-firing the weapon, this time looking even more menacing than before.
Crooks, 20, shot President Donald Trump in the ear during a Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally in August 2024.
The bullet was intended to kill Trump, but only grazed his ear when he turned his head at the last minute.
Crooks's digital footprint showed that he had been obsessed with assassinations, mass shootings, guns, and explosives.
As far back as 2019 when he was only about 15 years old, he made violent comments on YouTube videos.
Despite frequent internet searches on these topics and his comments, Crooks had not come to the attention of the FBI or other law enforcement before the assassination attempt.
Based on this information, it seems as though Crooks's motive was infamy or the ability to accomplish an assassination of his own, not any particular ill will toward Trump.
His violent comment in 2019 pertained to chopping the heads off anti-Trump Democrats, which makes one wonder why he would target Trump at all.
It may have just been a case of opportunity knocking when Trump decided to do a rally in Butler, near Crooks' home outside Pittsburgh.
The chance to act on his obsession was just too tempting to pass up, I guess.
Given that he is dead, we may never know what motivated him to try killing Trump.
