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 using 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.”
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