WATCH: Thomas Matthew Crooks Was A ‘Trump Hater,’ Former Classmate Says

A former classmate of would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks described him as a “Trump hater” in an interview with Fox News.

“Thomas was a quiet kid unless there was something that he was passionate about. Politics being one of them, he just did not like politicians, especially with the choices that we’ve had. He did not like our politicians,” said Vincent Taormina, a former classmate of Crooks, adding that this became especially apparent in 2016.

“So I brought up the fact that I’m Hispanic and you know I’m for Trump, and he said, ‘well you’re Hispanic so shouldn’t you hate Trump?’ And I was like, ‘no he’s great, I mean like he’s a great president.’ And he’s you know, he called me stupid, or insinuated that as if he’s like, well, that’s kind of stupid.”

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“So like, once again, if he was passionate about something, he would just talk, talk, talk and acted like he knew everything, especially politics related. And he was just, he was, he would say it in a type of way. And meanwhile, it’s like, dude, we’re in the same classes. You know what I mean? We’re talking about the same stuff here,” the former classmate continued.

Federal investigators have yet to determine a motive for the shooting after combing through Crooks’ phone and limited internet history. Crooks also had a very small presence on social media, as the only platform he seemed to be active on was Discord, a messaging application popular with gaming. The company announced that Crooks’ account was deleted after the shooting.

Crooks was registered to vote as a Republican, though his only political donation was to the Democrat fundraising arm ActBlue. The donation of $15 was made on the day of President Biden’s inauguration.

On Saturday, July 13, Crooks opened fire from a rooftop located 130 yards away from the former president’s podium. Secret Service personnel became aware of Crooks’ presence roughly an hour before the shooting, though Trump was still placed on stage.

Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle has been pressed to resign in the aftermath of the shooting, though she has shown no indication of doing so.

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