Would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks’ father was spotted this week leaving a Pittsburgh office building. Asked about his son’s attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Crooks’ father ignored multiple questions before telling reporters, “I gotta pee.”
On Wednesday, Collin Rugg, co-owner of Trending Politics, shared a video on X, formerly Twitter, of Crook’s recent interaction with reporters.
In the video, one reporter can be heard asking the shooter’s father, “Mr. Crooks, was there anything that might have made you aware of what your son was up to?” The first reporter’s question was immediately followed by another reporter asking, “Mr. Crooks, can you explain why your son had such a limited social circle?”
Finally, after receiving no response from Thomas Crooks’ father, the first reporter asked, “Is there any statement you would be willing to share with us right now, Mr. Crooks?” In response, the would-be assassin’s father said, “I gotta pee.”
In a statement accompanying the video, Rugg said the video was recorded this week while Crooks’ father was departing from a Pittsburgh office building that houses multiple law firms.
“Crooks’ parents are unlikely to face criminal charges however civil action may be pursued against them,” Rugg wrote.
Pennsylvania-based attorney Matthew Mangino told Fox News that to criminally charge Crooks’ parents in connection with the would-be assassin’s actions, “You’d have to prove in some way beyond a reasonable doubt that [Crooks’ parents] aided and abetted his ability to plan this attempted assassination or, in some way, knew what he was doing and provided him some means to do it.”
While Mangino said it would be “difficult” to criminally charge Crooks’ parents, “civil liability is a completely different story.” The attorney explained that civil liability charges would require prosecutors to have evidence that the 20-year-old shooter’s parents “could have or should have intervened” to protect both the former president and the public.
When Crook’s father was previously confronted by reporters, he told Fox News, “We’re going to release a statement when our legal counsel advises us to do so – until then, we have no comment. We just want to try to take care of ourselves right now. Please, just give us our space.”
