Marsha Blackburn questions FBI over Gab account, other social media possibly tied to Thomas Matthew Crooks

During a hearing on Tuesday, the Deputy Director of the FBI was questioned by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on the social media accounts that are possibly tied to would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, with an account that espoused more left-wing views tied to Crooks appearing to be more recent than one that had right-wing views.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) asked Deputy Director Paul Abbate about the possible accounts tied to Crooks and said, "You had mentioned a social media account that espoused anti-immigrant, antisemitic views, but you did not say what platform that was on and what the username was. And this is Crooks that we're discussing."

Abbate told Blackburn that he didn't comment on the other social media account because "we haven't fully confirmed yet" that the account belonged to Crooks. Abbate did not confirm which social media platform this account was on.

Pressing on the subject more, Blackburn asked, "And then we understand that the Gab account is pro-immigration, pro-lockdown, leftist views. Is that accurate?"

Abbate said that the Gab account was tied to Crooks but could not confirm that it belonged to him. "With the Gab account, we're also - though that's been publicly revealed through the CIO and other things, we're still working to certify and verify that that's his account also, but it does have differing points of view, it would appear."

When pressed on the topic by Blackburn to say when the left-wing account had been in use, Abbate commented, "The Gab account, based on my recollection, the comments in there or the messaging is from about 2021." Abbate added that the other right-wing social media account was used in the 2019-2020 time frame.

The Gab account tied to Crooks has many different left-wing posts on it that have been shared across social media.

Abbate, at the beginning of his testimony in the hearing, had only mentioned the social media account with the "anti-Semitic and anti-immigration themes” and said that the “social media account, which is believed to be associated with the shooter in the 2019 to 2020 timeframe."