The Thomas Crooks story seems fishy

What this episode is about

Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old with shooting experience and access to a gun through his father, is discussed in the context of an assassination attempt on a U.S. president, with background notes on related historical plots and a tangential digression about his involvement in a BlackRock commercial. The synopsis highlights his upbringing, access to weapons, and the broader references to high-profile political assassinations.

Key takeaways

• Security lapses at high-profile rallies remain shockingly reusable lessons; a rooftop shot is a sobering reminder.
• The shooter’s access—ladder, rifle, proximity—highlights gaps between training, threat intel, and real-time protection.
• Comparisons to Reagan, JFK lore tempt sensationalism, but today’s threat ecology centers on lone-actor planning and social media cues.
• Personal narratives—college days, ads, gun clubs—reveal how normalcy masks volatility; beware ordinary routes to harm.
• Transparency promises collide with bureaucratic inertia; the true proof is actionable reform, not mere apologies.

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Thomas Matthew Crooks, BlackRock, Assassination, BlackRock Commercial
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Secret Service, Assassination, Thomas Matthew Crooks
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Jank Uygur, Secret Service, Corey (firefighter), Piers Morgan
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Secret Service, Ronald Reagan, mental illness, Taxi Driver
5. 20:00 – 25:00: Secret Service, Thomas Matthew Crooks, Central Intelligence Agency, Assassination

Notable quotes from "The Thomas Crooks story seems fishy"

• Going to talk about Thomas Crook's assassination attempt on Trump I've been glued to this story I've been fascinated by assassination and assassination attempts on heads of…

  about Assassination · at 0:08

• Artistically fulfilling role but I'm sure it paid well so hey good for you man I didn't even know Black Rock did commercials there's something funny about that to me but now…

  about BlackRock · at 1:01

• The news he thought oh God and then called the local authorities and so here we are Thomas Crooks has his ladder the ammunition dad's gun he's an hour away so at that point he…

  about Thomas Matthew Crooks · at 2:42

• Not really an excuse and they haven't put one out they've just saying it was a total failure we're going to be transparent what was that something sounds like someone just fell down the stairs but anyway we're going to be totally.

  about Secret Service · at 6:05

• The perfect spot settle in AIM and get shots off they were whizzing by Trump one went through the ear one hit a firefighter and a dad named Corey in the head killed him another…

  about Corey (firefighter) · at 11:49

• You saying are you trying to being a lunatic conspiracy theorist I think is the term that he used and Pierce didn't like being called a lunatic conspiracy theorist and he…

  about Piers Morgan · at 13:27

• Got into his college years his me and got isolated from his family his mental illness really started rearing its ugly head and he started to really go crazy and he worked he had this apartment and he worked at he was a.

  about mental illness · at 15:28

• Conspiracy theory that John fken or that JFK was killed by the government right he was the young new president and the old CIA guys had already had it all planned out what they…

  about Central Intelligence Agency · at 21:23

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Thomas Matthew Crooks — Person · Core subject · 7 mentions · first at 0:08
  Presented as the 20-year-old alleged shooter in the Trump rally assassination attempt; the episode analyzes his actions, preparation, and how he accessed a rooftop firing position.
• John Hinckley Jr. — Person · Historical comparison case · 1 mention · first at 0:29
  Used as a parallel 'lone disturbed young man' case to compare plausibility and security dynamics versus the Crooks incident.
  It and just to put this story in context I want to talk a little bit about the John hinley Jr assassination attempt on Reagan story a little bit and then maybe even a little…
• John F. Kennedy — Person · Referenced historical figure · 9 mentions
  The JFK assassination is invoked as an example of an event with many 'fishy' elements; the host suggests the Crooks story feels more like JFK than Hinckley.
  I want to talk a little bit about the John hinley Jr assassination attempt on Reagan story a little bit and then maybe even a little bit about the JFK assassination but let's…
• Ronald Reagan — Person · Referenced historical figure · 4 mentions · first at 0:29
  His 1981 shooting is recounted in detail to contrast a believable lone-actor attempt with the perceived oddities of the Crooks case.
  It and just to put this story in context I want to talk a little bit about the John hinley Jr assassination attempt on Reagan story a little bit and then maybe even a little…
• Corey (firefighter) — Person · Victim referenced · 2 mentions · first at 12:03
  Named as the firefighter and father killed in the crowd; used to emphasize the human cost and immediacy of the event.
• Piers Morgan — Person · Referenced media figure · 1 mention · first at 13:03
  His on-air argument is used to illustrate how discussion of 'odd' details gets framed as conspiracy theorizing and socially policed.
• Jank Uygur — Person · Referenced debater · 3 mentions · first at 13:03
  Appears in the retold TV segment arguing against conspiracy framing; used as an example of pushback against 'fishy' interpretations.
  And argue with it I've seen and maybe the one that comes to mind the most is I think it was last night but Pierce Morgan Had shank yuger on his show and they got into this…
• Jodie Foster — Person · Referenced public figure in motive narrative · 1 mention · first at 17:17
  Mentioned as the actress Hinckley stalked and sought to impress, tying media obsession to political violence.
  Dangerous but he got in his head he's obsessed with Taxi Driver he's obsessed with jod Foster and he thought I'm gonna impress jod Foster by killing Ronald Reagan and so he is…

Books & papers

• Catcher in the Rye — Book · Referenced cultural influence · 1 mention · first at 17:12
  Mentioned as an analogy: the host claims the John Lennon killer was influenced by Holden Caulfield, paralleling Hinckley's Taxi Driver fixation.
  Something anyway he's fascinated with the character and Taxi Driver the way that the guy that killed John lennin was fascinated with Holden Coffield from Catcher in the Rye so…

Companies & orgs

• Secret Service — Organization · Central institution under scrutiny · 13 mentions · first at 4:55
  Discussed as responsible for rally security; the episode argues their failure to secure a key rooftop is implausible and potentially indicative of deeper issues.
• BlackRock — Organization · Referenced company (contextual oddity) · 3 mentions · first at 0:46
  Mentioned because Thomas Crooks was reportedly featured in a BlackRock commercial, which the host frames as bizarre and noteworthy.
• Central Intelligence Agency — Organization · Referenced organization in JFK framing · 2 mentions · first at 21:26
  Raised as the alleged actor behind JFK's assassination in the host's interpretation; used to compare 'fishy' narratives to the Crooks case.
• Home Depot — Organization · Referenced retailer in timeline · 1 mention · first at 2:17
  Mentioned as the store where Crooks allegedly bought a 5-foot ladder, part of the preparation narrative.
  They're reporting that Crooks went to the gun range for some target practice and went to Home Depot and bought a 5- foot ladder the next day the day of the shooting they're…

Concepts & topics

• Assassination — Concept · Core topic · 7 mentions · first at 0:10
  Frames the entire episode: the host discusses assassination attempts historically and uses them to interpret the Trump rally shooting.
• mental illness — Concept · Explanatory concept · 2 mentions · first at 15:35
  Used to interpret Hinckley's behavior (diagnoses, impulse control, reality testing) and to frame the 'lone wolf' narrative applied to Crooks.
• American history — Concept · Contextual framing concept · 1 mention · first at 21:03
  Used to situate the JFK assassination and broader assassination narratives as recurring themes in U.S. political life.
  See that nothing this one the Thomas Crooks one is not like that so let's go back to another one in American history the JFK assassination and at this point it's pretty much known out there I've read a couple books on it there's pretty good.

Places & events

• Butler, Pennsylvania — Place · Event location · 1 mention · first at 2:55
  Identified as the area where the Trump rally shooting occurred; central to the security-perimeter plausibility discussion.
  We are Thomas Crooks has his ladder the ammunition dad's gun he's an hour away so at that point he drives the hour to I think it's Butler Pennsylvania to the fair grounds type…

Media & podcasts

• BlackRock Commercial — Media · Referenced media artifact · 2 mentions · first at 0:46
  Discussed as a strange biographical detail: Crooks allegedly appeared in it; the host also riffs by writing a parody ad.
  Commercials there's something funny about that to me but now that I know that they do I couldn't help but write my own Black Rock commercial so if you work for black rock or…
• Taxi Driver — Media · Referenced cultural influence · 2 mentions · first at 16:59
  Cited as the film John Hinckley Jr. was obsessed with, used to explain his motivations and mental state.
  Bought a gun for like 27 bucks I think with a fake ID and he's in La he's a f he's fascinated with the character in Taxi Driver what's his name Travis binkle or something anyway he's fascinated with the character and Taxi Driver the way.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:05 hey folks welcome back so today we're going to talk about Thomas Crook's assassination attempt on Trump I've been glued to this story I've been fascinated by assassination and assassination attempts on heads of state since I was a kid these stories are always one for the books so we're going to go through the story as things come up we'll talk about it and just to put this story in context I want to talk a little bit about the John hinley Jr assassination attempt on Reagan story a little bit and then maybe even a little bit about the JFK assassination but let's get right into it so Thomas Crooks 20 years old he lived an hour away from where the shooting took place with his parents last year bizarrely he was featured in a Black Rock commercial that has to be one of the weirdest acting careers of all time yeah I was in one black rock commercial that's my acting career all right right well not the most

1:01 artistically fulfilling role but I'm sure it paid well so hey good for you man I didn't even know Black Rock did commercials there's something funny about that to me but now that I know that they do I couldn't help but write my own Black Rock commercial so if you work for black rock or you know someone that does let them know they can use this one for free this one's on the house but if they want me to write more after this one you're going to have to pay me the big bucks but here we go Black Rock TV spot take one at Black Rock we know war is hell but only if you're there if you're on the other side of the planet eating ceviche on a mega yacht it's honestly not that bad black rock war is hell but only if you're there ding we could edit in like a tooth Sparkle you know ding I don't know I'm just brainstorming I think it could be good like I said that one's on the house but let's keep moving

2:00 Thomas krooks and his dad were members of a shooting club at the local gun range so Crooks did have shooting experience and access to the gun through his dad the day before the shooting they're reporting that Crooks went to the gun range for some target practice and went to Home Depot and bought a 5- foot ladder the next day the day of the shooting they're reporting that he went and bought 50 rounds of ammunition and then went and told his Dad hey Dad I'm going to the gun range can you give me a rifle and his dad said oh yeah all right if you're going to go to the gun range and gave him the rifle they're also saying that his dad started to be alarmed when he couldn't get a hold of them after a while and then when he saw the news he thought oh God and then called the local authorities and so here we are Thomas Crooks has his ladder the ammunition dad's gun he's an hour away so at that point he drives the hour to I

2:57 think it's Butler Pennsylvania to the fair grounds type venue wasn't in a stadium or anything where the Trump rally was taking place I keep thinking about back when I was going to college Obama was campaigning and on a campaign stop he stopped and did a speech at the University I was going to and we all went and checked it out and the security was beyond crazy even to get I think the closest we were was maybe a mile and a half away we went through so much security and there's these big metal gates funneling people you couldn't really go the way you normally would get around the campus so all of a sudden even though I was very familiar with the campus I couldn't figure out I was trying to meet some people I couldn't figure out how to get to them I couldn't figure out how to get closer I ended up just watching it or I guess listening to it I couldn't even really see him I just listened to it they felt bad for us cuz

4:02 they stuck a speaker in the ground like a mile out where I was so I just sat by this speaker and listened to it but it was kind of a disaster trying to meet up with people and then if you were trying to get home over there you couldn't because of all of the gates and the funneling of people so I just keep thinking of that story in my head while Thomas Crooks is driving that hour to a area that I think maybe he had been there a bunch to other events or as a kid maybe they went to some Fair once a year I don't know I would love for an investigation for it to come out that whether he was familiar with that area or not or was it in his Google searches that he had been staring at an aerial view and trying to figure out but it really starts to get hard to believe that on the day of the event where the secret service has already taken over the security of it and there's local law enforcement everywhere and it's a

5:03 campaign event and all the security that comes with it it's hard to believe that someone that doesn't live in the area could drive down there find a parking spot and then wander around with a gun and a ladder and not only just wander around but actually find a rooftop hey this is pretty good wow there's not there's no one even up there there's no sec server there's no law enforcement the fact that there's no there was no one on that roof which was a perfect place to get shots off you couldn't you really couldn't draw up a better spot to to try to get the assassination off is that roof it was close only like 435 ft away it it it just was right there a straight shot and so that's why the director of C Secret Service Kimberly Cheeto is going down in flames because of this because there's not really an excuse and they haven't put one out they've just saying it was a total failure we're going to be

6:13 transparent what was that something sounds like someone just fell down the stairs but anyway we're going to be totally transparent we're gonna do an investigation we're going to put it all out but and so I was thinking when she said that like all right I'm I'm interested to see what that investigation what comes out with that but then she kind of answered the biggest question in the later in the interview which why wasn't someone on that roof this wasn't an urban setting where there's countless buildings and balconies and Terraces and it would be totally impossible to put someone on everything this is Farm country where there was one clump of buildings by the stage which where the Secret Service were and then just one other possibility where Thomas Crooks was able to get up settle down and get shots off so it's again another part that's really hard to believe as the Secret Service got to the venue and it's like all right

7:17 let's lock it down let's make it safe definitely um let's get some snipers up on this roof and all right what else should we do and someone's like well what about that roof that's a perfect area to try to get an assassination attempt off it's right there it's close it's pretty much flat that looks pretty good and it's yeah you know what and this was her answer this is why I don't even really I'm not that interested for the the details of the investigation to come out because she answered it and this was her answer while why nobody law enforcement or Secret Service was up on that roof and she said that building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point and so you know there's a safety factor that wouldn't that would be considered there that we wouldn't want to put someone up on the sloped roof that was the answer from the director of The Secret Service that doesn't make any sense one I think the

8:26 Secret Service agents and the law enforcement could handle it it looked like about a 3° angle it the roof that the the snipers were on just from the pictures looks way more sloped the thumbnail picture that I used I'm going to use for this video look at that this it's the slope is so gradual that that answer it's hard to believe that's the answer but somehow they decided the slope is way too scary to put anybody up there even though it's the perfect spot to try to get off an assassination attempt and so what she said is instead of securing on top they secured inside that building all right so there you go but where it the whole thing starts to be like this smells fishy this is hard to believe is that 20-year-old Crooks could drive down there into the security and the parking I'm sure they were telling people where to go not only get down there and get into the event but able to wander around notice that there

9:37 wasn't someone up there use the ladder to get up onto the roof a story that they were reporting for like a day or two but now I haven't heard for a few days is they reported that he was up on the roof and a uniform police officer hey what the hell notied the ladder that was propped up climbed up it and that crook son pointed the rifle at him the cop because he was severely outgunned and was just like uhoh quickly climbed down the ladder so he didn't get shot and then still Crooks had enough time to crawl over and settle down and aim and get shots off so I don't know again if that's true but that's another crazy story but so now he's up on somehow he was able to wander around with the rifle and the ladder and find the perfect roof stop the rooftop that didn't have anybody on it and then so he's up there and as he's bear crawling oh yeah one thing first is I've also heard reports that before he was up on

10:44 the roof Secret Service saw him come out with a rangefinder like a little binocular type thing that lets you see how far something is away if you're wanting to shoot it and so they saw him there and maybe talked or discussed about some about him on the radio and then he came back with a backpack and was Milling around so it sounds like they saw him around that area doing things and then once he's up on the roof there's that guy with red hair that did an interview where they were telling police look there's a guy crawling with a gun right there what's going on he's he has a gun right there and minutes and minutes and minutes went by where nothing happened and he was able even with all of that somehow he was able to get that close with that gun it's not like he had this little tiny revolver that is easy to hide and from some parking lot way far away shot off wild shots no he was able to get into

11:49 the perfect spot settle in AIM and get shots off they were whizzing by Trump one went through the ear one hit hit a firefighter and a dad named Corey in the head killed him another person that was just in the crowd was an ER doctor he ran over to try to help Corey the firefighter and even though brain matter was leaking out of Corey's head the ER doctor went into life saving procedures and really tried to help him and then the ER doctor did an interview afterwards and he had blood all over him it looked like Battlefield type stuff and it was a gut-wrenching interview you know he looked like he was about to cry and he just said I I tried everything I could do but just absolutely wild stuff and what I take away from this story is that there are a few parts of it that are really hard to believe and that start to smell a little fishy to me and then I as I've been watching the coverage of it and people talk about it

12:58 and argue with it I've seen and maybe the one that comes to mind the most is I think it was last night but Pierce Morgan Had shank yuger on his show and they got into this really loud heated argument because Pierce Morgan was saying that there are a lot of things in the story that are odd that's the word he used odd and chank got really loud and passionate about saying what do you mean by odd are you saying are you trying to being a lunatic conspiracy theorist I think is the term that he used and Pierce didn't like being called a lunatic conspiracy theorist and he pulled back immediately and was no no no no I'm not saying anything like conspiracy theory happened I'm just saying it's odd and I'm sitting there going Pierce have a little backbone odd is the biggest understatement of the century this stuff is straight up unbelievable like I can't I can't believe it that that is just what happened so but maybe it's just

14:04 stunningly unbelievable failure by the Secret Service and they have been lulled to sleep because something like this hasn't happened for a really long time but for me starting to like inch towards the like yeah this feels like a conspiracy doesn't feel that crazy and I don't think that that should be used to censor people and shut people down because you can go what are you a lunatic conspiracy theorist and then you see people go no no no no I'm not I'm just saying it's odd I don't want to be called a lunatic conspiracy theorist but just saying that yeah he was able to find the one roof and they decided cuz there was a little bit of slope and yep sounds good to me totally believable let's just move on I'm having a hard time doing that and so to put this one in context I want to talk about John hinley Jr who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan because that was what they're saying what this is

15:13 right is a lonely bullied lone wolf that decided he wanted to kill the president and this was his attempt to do it that's exactly the same story as the John hinley Jr story John hinley Jr when he got into his college years his me and got isolated from his family his mental um his mental illness really started rearing its ugly head and he started to really go crazy and he worked he had this apartment and he worked at he was a bus boy across the street and was a barback and his connection with with reality was Getting Thinner and thinner and then at some point it snapped and he got in his head you know what I'm going to go to La and I'm going to give it one more chance to be a musician he was he you know wrote songs and he played songs and so which is a delusional thought to think you're going to take your little guitar and drive to LA and then all of a sudden be in the big city and it's just

16:20 going to go great hey you want a record deal that's a pretty good song you little crazy dude and so he goes out to LA to make it as a mici position nothing happens as you can imagine and then at that point he decides all right I'm going to essentially commit suicide by killing the president it'll be this big last thing I'll kill the president they'll kill me so he then goes to Washington DC at some point he bought a gun for like 27 bucks I think with a fake ID and he's in La he's a f he's fascinated with the character in Taxi Driver what's his name Travis binkle or something anyway he's fascinated with the character and Taxi Driver the way that the guy that killed John lennin was fascinated with Holden Coffield from Catcher in the Rye so he's fascinated with Taxi Driver jod Foster is in Taxi Driver he's was at the time stalking Jodie Foster after he was arrested they he was diagnosed with five serious

17:33 mental disorders and tested very low in knowing reality and also very low in impulse control making him very dangerous but he got in his head he's obsessed with Taxi Driver he's obsessed with jod Foster and he thought I'm gonna impress jod Foster by killing Ronald Reagan and so he is in DC he's got his little tiny revolver that he bought and he gets somehow he sees Ronald Reagan's schedule for that day and Ronald Reagan was going to a hotel and then he was doing something else so then John hinley Jr goes to the hotel and he's standing out there Milling around waiting for Reagan to come out Reagan comes out in a desperate dive with the little revolver he shoots six shots off in one 1.8 seconds he's tackled the Secret Service push Ronald Reagan into the car um the Press SEC or no not the press the secretary of state was got hit the worst and had brain damage and was paralyzed but someone else on in

18:47 Reagan's staff got hurt and so a secret service member shoves Reagan into their limousine and he drives off they they Reagan thought that the secret service agent by shoving him into the car hurt his rib it's like oh you hurt my rib as you as you shoved me in and the Secret Service agent feels up his Co and he's feeling all around him and he pulls his hands out and there's no blood on him and he goes all right I think you're good and he gives the call sign or whatever he makes the announcement over the radio he's good we're good and then Reagan starts having blood foam like frothing coming out of his mouth and the Secret Service agent was like oh no all right well I'm taken to the hospital and Reagan said okay so they go to the hospital he ended up having a broken rib I think a collapsed lung but pretty bad internal bleeding a bullet ricocheted off the limo and hit Reagan and still did all of that damage

19:53 but he lived just an attempt and so why I bring up that story right after this one is so the difference I think in these two stories if they're both lone you know disturbed young men who are depraved that want to do one last thing as kind of a way to commit suicide but also have infant me and be famous and kill the president the difference between them if they're supposed to be the same the difference between them is there's not one part of the John hinley Jr who did work alone who was totally crazy there's not one part from the very beginning to when he started having mental issues when he was isolated from his family in his college Years all the way up through him doing the desperate dive waiting by the by the hotel you know getting tackled of me there's not one part of that story that seems fishy that seems unbelievable from start to finish every aspect of it but it's like yeah I can

20:59 see that nothing this one the Thomas Crooks one is not like that so let's go back to another one in American history the JFK assassination and at this point it's pretty much known out there I've read a couple books on it there's pretty good documentaries on YouTube that are it's like respected at this point I don't even think it's really considered a conspiracy theory that John fken or that JFK was killed by the government right he was the young new president and the old CIA guys had already had it all planned out what they wanted to do with Cuba and Vietnam Vietnam and they thought Kennedy this new president he'll go along with it and he didn't and I always imagine a scene where a old mean-faced CIA agent asks hey JFK can I talk to you alone for a second in the other room and JFK is like yeah no problem and they go in there and then as soon as the door shuts the CIA agent's face changes and he says listen

22:07 here boyo we've been doing this since before you were playing with your little pink toes so let's get something straight the wars will never end you got that and Kennedy said no no we're not doing it and in a speech later that's just fake I always just imagine that but in a real speech he said he was going to break up something like I'm going to break up the CIA into a thousand pieces and they killed him and the reason from pretty much immediately it became like the quintessential conspiracy theory no one believed it because there was so many aspects of how Kennedy wound up dead that just didn't make sense sense it's like so wait so you did a convertible limousine at a extremely slow pace you decided not to have secret service around just like this Thomas crook story there's I'm not going to go into it like I said there's many documentaries that's not what this episode is but just like that one there

23:19 were so many aspects of the story that it's like I don't know I really just can't see that happening it just smells fishy and so in my opinion this Thomas Crooks one if you just look at that like those three it's much more like the JFK one where some guy was able to lay down with a rifle get a good shot off it wasn't some desperate like dive out with the tiny revolver but absolutely wild story the director of Secret Service said they're going to do a massive investigation and be totally transparent and that it shouldn't have happened and was unacceptable and the buck stops with her and all this stuff so I'm really interested to see what comes out with that that investigation I'm not you know I'm not thinking it's going to be anything too mindblowing because of the way she answered why wasn't there someone on the roof with just yeah it's a little safety concern it's sloped about one degree way too dangerous for a

24:36 secret service agent so we just thought you know what let's not put anyone up there let's not put any security around it to make sure no one climbs up and when someone does climb up let's make sure they have some time to settle in AIM a little bit and there's not too many moments like witnessing bullets whizzing by Trump and one going through his ear there's not too many moments like that that will happen in your life me and my friend were texting about it and I think it's like covid is definitely one of those and 911 is definitely one of those but witnessing being able to witness the footage and some people witnessed it live of a former US president and the candidate for one of the major parties having AR-15 bullets whizzing past him really is a crazy event that we all just went through so I'm gonna cut it off there I love you all I'll see you next time why Sten why sh

Questions about this episode

What is "The Thomas Crooks story seems fishy" about?

Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old with shooting experience and access to a gun through his father, is discussed in the context of an assassination attempt on a U.S. president, with background notes on related historical plots and a tangential digression about his involvement in a BlackRock commercial. The synopsis highlights his upbringing, access to weapons, and the broader references to…

What is mentioned in this TRUE CRIME Loser episode?

19 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Secret Service, Thomas Matthew Crooks, Assassination, John Hinckley Jr., John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Thomas Crooks story seems fishy"?

The episode runs 26 min; the transcript is about 4,105 words in 23 timestamped sections.

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