The details remain elusive for now, but the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project has revealed that in 2023, a cellphone that had been where would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks lived and worked was near an FBI office in Washington, D.C.
“We found the assassin’s connections through our in-depth analysis of mobile ad data to track movements of Crooks and his associates,” the watchdog group posted on X on Monday.
“For those that are tracking this type of data, we identified devices that were located at Crook’s home and his work within the past year. There were at least 9 devices linked to these AD-IDs,” the Oversight Project wrote on X.
“We are willing to cooperate with legitimate investigations and share further information. For the protection of whistleblowers and our investigation, we will not be sharing further information with the congressional task force due to the connective tissue between that entity and FBI, [U.S. Secret Service], and other entities,” the post said.
For those that are tracking this type of data, we identified devices that were located at Crook’s home and his work within the past year.
There were at least 9 devices linked to these AD-IDs
We are willing to cooperate with legitimate investigations and share further…
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) July 22, 2024
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Tracking a phone does not mean knowing with whom it was traveling, and so the Oversight Project hedged its bets in another comment posted to X.
“Someone who regularly visited Crooks home and work also visited a building in Washington, DC located in Gallery Place. This is in the same vicinity of an @FBI office on June 26, 2023. Who’s device is this?” it asked on X.
Someone who regularly visited Crooks home and work also visited a building in Washington, DC located in Gallery Place.
This is in the same vicinity of an @FBI office on June 26, 2023.
Who’s device is this? pic.twitter.com/b9ZIO5utDC
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) July 22, 2024
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The Oversight Project said that a “phone linked to Crooks” flew to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and it noted a pattern of visits to Butler, Pennsylvania, where one person was killed and three others — including former President Donald Trump — were wounded when Crooks opened fire at a July 13 campaign rally.
“We began this investigation on the night of the shooting. We’ve been working 24/7 since then,” a representative of the Oversight Project told Blaze News.
The outlet reported investigators used publicly available software to locate and track the phones.
We found a device linked to Crooks’s work that traveled to Butler, PA on July 4th and July 8th.
This device stopped all activity on July 12th. pic.twitter.com/f4zk08ldDw
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) July 22, 2024
Former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin said the Gallery Place location is significant.
“It is the closest [location] off-site that I’m aware of to the Washington Field Office,” Seraphin told Blaze News. “Agents are assigned to Washington Field, but they work out of Gallery Place.”
🚨ASSASINATION INFO DROP🚨
We found the assassin’s connections through our in-depth analysis of mobile ad data to track movements of Crooks and his associates.
To do this, we tracked devices that regularly visited both Crooks’s home and place of work and followed them.🧵 https://t.co/T5HETLhkgM pic.twitter.com/hMsI9dFwNk
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) July 22, 2024
Oversight Project representatives said they believe, for now, that the phone tracked near the FBI office most likely visited Crooks at work. They do not think the phone belonged to Crooks.
One device the Oversight Project believes belonged to Crooks went to Butler on July 4 and July 8. That device also stopped at a Home Depot in Butler where Crooks has been reported to have purchased a ladder.
Geolocation technology traces the ID assigned to each cellphone.
“Every device has an ad ID. It’s kind of like a Social Security number for your cell phone,” an Oversight Project representative said. “It’s unique and it identifies the phone. You can’t erase it. You can refresh and get a new one, but you only have one ID per phone.”
