The avalanche of information revealed about Luigi Mangione following his arrest has raised questions about why so little is still known about Donald Trump’s would-be assassin, Thomas Crooks.
Within hours of Mangione’s dramatic arrest in Pennsylvania on Monday, it emerged that he was an Ivy League-educated 26-year-old from a privileged Baltimore family.
His cousin was revealed to be a Maryland state delegate, former friends from Hawaii and Baltimore offered intimate details of his background, and social media sleuths delved into his online presence, including the books he most recently read.
But nearly five months after Crooks shot Trump in the ear and killed a rally attendee in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, the gunman’s life remains shrouded in mystery.
The criminals’ true motive for shooting Trump remains unclear, as he was a registered Republican with no online presence or clear signs of prior anti-Trump sentiment.
And even as the congressional task force on the Crooks assassination attempt wrapped up its work last week, its chairman, Rep. Mike Kelly admitted in meeting with the press: ‘There are so many missing pieces in this… How can there be so many missing pieces?’
Unanswered questions and mystery factors led some to draw comparisons between Crooks and Mangione.
Conservative commentator Greg Price led the charge, saying on X just hours after Mangione’s arrest: “We now know more about Luigi in five hours than we have learned about Thomas Crooks in three months.”
Within hours of the arrest of Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a wealth of information and intimate details of his background were revealed.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, who shot Donald Trump’s ear in a possible assassination on July 13, remains a mystery to the public as elected officials investigating the shooting say they are being “stonewalled.”
Price went on to state that the wall of silence amid the Crooks investigation “is one of the many reasons America needs Kash Patel in the FBI.”
He cited Donald Trump’s nomination of controversial intelligence chief Kash Patel to lead the FBI, who has pledged to radically reform the bureau and release a trove of classified documents related to a series of past investigations.
While his public comments that have drawn the most scrutiny involve his promise to release files on the JFK assassination, this sentiment could prompt Patel, if approved by the Senate, to offer more information about Crooks’ background.
The FBI’s role in investigating Crooks’ attempted murder sparked backlash in the weeks after the shooting, including its decision to cremate the gunman’s remains just 10 days later.
The cremation was revealed by Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins, who launched his own investigation into the Crooks shooting after becoming frustrated by the investigation.
Higgins, appointed to the bipartisan congressional task force that reviewed the assassination attempt, attempted to view Crooks’ body on Aug. 5, but said his request “caused a stir and revealed a disturbing fact.”
He wrote in his report at the time that he learned that the FBI had “released the body for cremation 10 days” after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Higgins says “no one knew” the body had been returned to the family, including the county coroner and local authorities. He writes that the coroner still had “legal authority over the body” when the FBI made this decision and accuses the agency of “obstruction.”
The FBI released Crooks’ body just ten days after his attempted assassination of former President Trump, a Louisiana congressman claimed earlier this year.
Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican who was appointed to the bipartisan task force that reviewed the assassination attempt, attempted to view Crooks’ body on Aug. 5 as part of his own personal investigation, but said he “disappeared.”
The congressman’s report came amid concerns about how the shooting was allowed to unfold, in which Trump barely escaped with his life and a rally attendee was killed in what was one of the biggest security failures in US history. Joined.
Since Higgins’ revelations, very little information has been released, culminating in Kelly’s admission last week that the congressional task force has struggled.
But while attempts to investigate Crooks’ background led Kelly’s colleague, Rep. Jason Crow, the task force’s ranking member, to claim he was being “hindered,” information on Mangione was apparently much easier to come by. .
Intimate details of Mangione’s backstory came to light within hours of his arrest, largely due to his prolific online presence compared to Crooks’ lack of social media history.
Friends of the alleged killer also revealed shortly after his arrest that he went “absolutely insane” after painful back surgery and explored a psychedelic treatment for his chronic pain, it has been revealed.
Friends said Mangione disappeared from the radar when “everything changed” after a surfing accident, and it has now been reported that he highlighted UnitedHealthcare in a “manifesto” he carried.
Mangione, allegedly seen in this surveillance image of the killer released by the NYPD, was arrested by police on Monday after a McDonald’s worker in Pennsylvania recognized him.
The suspect, seen during his arrest, was allegedly found with a handwritten manifesto, a firearm and a silencer in his bag.
In stark contrast to the mystery behind Crooks’ motivations, Mangione’s alleged motives could not be clearer, as he wrote in a 262-word handwritten document how Thompson’s company “abused our country for immense profits.” “.
‘These parasites deserved it. “I apologize for any conflict and trauma, but it had to be done,” he allegedly wrote.
A former roommate of Mangione’s told CNN, “I remember him saying he had a back problem and he was hoping to get stronger in Hawaii.”
The experience was “really traumatic and difficult” for him, the roommate said, adding that Mangione sent him X-rays of his spine. “He looked atrocious, with just giant screws stuck in his spine,” Martin said.
Mangione suddenly went “radio silent” as he recovered. She sought alternative forms of pain management, including psychedelics and magic mushrooms.
The differences between Mangione’s background and the mystery surrounding Thomas Crooks led many to wonder why authorities had such a difficult time investigating Trump’s shooter.
Juanita Broaddrick, who accused former President Bill Clinton of rape in 1978, waded into the X controversy.
“Apparently they have the man who committed the murder of Brian Thompson six days ago and yet… it’s been 5 months since Trump was shot in Butler and we still know nothing about Thomas Crooks,” he wrote.
‘I wonder why?’
Another X user added: “We know Luigi Mangione’s life story basically by how he likes his coffee a few hours after the shooting.
‘Let’s do Thomas Crooks now. I’ll wait.’