A neo-Nazi who may have interacted with would-be Donald Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks online revealed himself to be Bjorn Leif Hjelmerud of Norway, The Daily Mail reported.
Hjelmerud admitted to being in contact with a “Tom Crooks” YouTube account believed by some to be the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania, shooter who nearly took the president’s life, the outlet reported citing a text exchange with Hjelmerud. A member of the white supremacist Nordic Resistance Movement, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, Hjelmerud egged on violent comments from “Tom Crooks” about overthrowing the government in a 2020 YouTube comments section.
“If a gun and a badge is all that is needed, then authority obviously comes from the barrel of a gun,” Hjelmerud told the account while under the username “Willy_Tepes,” The Daily Mail reported. “We have more guns than they do … There is no way we can avoid a war at this point, so you better just get used to the idea.”
Hjelmerud said he did not talk to “Tom Crooks” on any other online platform in comments to the outlet. Secret Service agents fatally shot the Butler gunman after he hit Trump in the ear with a rifle from a rooftop during a campaign rally, narrowly missing his brain.
“I believe it was a US intelligence operation using a patsy to boost Trump’s popularity,” Hjelmerud allegedly told The Daily Mail about the assassination attempt. “Crooks was not censored but I was. YouTube does not allow calls for violence.”
Trump said in July he was “very satisfied” with law enforcement’s investigation of the shooting, which found no one else involved in Crooks’ plot and did not determine his precise motives.
“The Jews have banned me from all their social media platforms, so I am effectively censored,” Hjelmerud allegedly told The Daily Mail. “But it does not matter as the world has collectively noticed what I have been pointing out. Have a nice day and death to Israel!”
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