Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump at a 2024 campaign rally, exchanged cryptic text messages about a 3D printer months before the shooting, according to newly released records.
Crooks, 20, was communicating with someone the FBI identified as an “unknown contact,” according to records obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
In one exchange dated February 9, 2023, the contact asked Crooks: “did you 3d print the parts?”
Crooks replied several hours later: “Yes, except for the fan blades,” the records show.
The review of the messages, dated July 18, 2024, said the communications had been extracted from a Samsung mobile phone.
The records said the conversations were considered “pertinent” to the investigation into the July 13 assassination attempt against Trump.
Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, told investigators that his son owned a 3D printer and had previously attempted to make a handgun, according to the New York Post.
“Using carbon fiber plastic, a dryer and a toaster oven, Thomas did once create a Glock 19,” Matthew told investigators, according to the outlet.
FBI records obtained by Judicial Watch show that attempted Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, exchanged text messages about 3D printing in February 2023
The FBI marked Crooks’ conversations as “pertinent” to its investigation of the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania
His father said he refused to let Crooks use the weapon after his son fired one round, fearing the frame could explode.
In the messages obtained by Judicial Watch, Crooks appeared to confirm that he had printed “the parts” and said he was “trying to save up money to move out.”
“Apartments are too expensive though,” Crooks wrote before shifting the conversation to school.
Another FBI communication linked to the investigation described a series of messages sent on May 22, 2023, consisting largely of individual characters and one- or two-word phrases that investigators found difficult to interpret immediately.
The outgoing messages reportedly included: “Hello reddd Hello red Hello re d Gevegeg Hello Hdhdh Hello Hello Red red Hello red JjjjjJjJ Hhdj Jhhhuuh Hello.”
All of the incoming messages in that exchange were redacted in the records released to the organization.
Judicial Watch’s records also showed that Crooks received a DHL Express package from Hong Kong in January 2023.
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The shipment was delivered on January 3 at 6:02 p.m., although the messages did not specify its delivery location.
Crooks’ father told investigators that his son owned a 3D printer and had previously attempted to make a handgun
A separate FBI laboratory report obtained by Judicial Watch said investigators recovered eight flight logs from Crooks’ commercial-off-the-shelf drone, which was equipped with video and audio capabilities.
The records obtained by the organization said Crooks’ drone had flown in the Butler, Pennsylvania, area on the day Trump was shot.
Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray had said Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards from the Trump rally stage for roughly 11 minutes, The Associated Press reported.
Crooks used the device to livestream and watch footage, according to Wray.
The drone flights before that happened in February in Bethel Park, Allegheny-West and New Eagle, all near Pittsburgh.
Judicial Watch’s records also included 40 images that had been extracted from Crooks’ drone.
The 56-page document said the images were taken between February 6, 2024, and February 27, 2024, in the Pittsburgh area.
The obtained records said eight flight logs and 40 images had been extracted from Crooks’ commercial drone
Records obtained by Judicial Watch also included texts from November and December 2022 with fundraising appeals for Raphael Warnock, the now-Georgia Senator who was then a Democratic candidate.
Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, said the records ‘reveal more pieces of the puzzle surrounding Thomas Crooks.’
‘The FBI should stop the slow drip of heavily redacted records and immediately provide the full investigative record,’ Fitton added. ‘Especially since the death last week of James Copenhaver, who was severely injured from being shot during the assassination attempt on President Trump.’
Copenhaver, a 76-year-old veteran, was hit in the arm and abdomen during the assassination attempt on Trump.
He died this September 23 though a family statement did not specify if his death was linked to those injuries, according to PBS.
Fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, was shot and killed at the campaign rally while protecting his family from the gunfire.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the FBI for comment.