International
Authorities Reportedly Spotted Trump’s Would-Be Assassin Nearly 30 Minutes Before He Opened Fire

From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By NICK POPE
Law enforcement personnel reportedly spotted former President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin about 30 minutes before the gunman opened fire at a Saturday rally in Pennsylvania, according to reporting from a local NBC News affiliate.
Authorities reportedly identified the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, on top of the roof from which he ultimately tried to kill Trump at approximately 5:45 p.m., about a half an hour before he nearly assassinated the former president, WPXI reported Monday, citing anonymous law enforcement sources. The individual who reportedly spotted the gunman then reportedly took a picture of him and called it in, though it was unclear at that time whether or not the shooter was armed, the outlet reported.
A law enforcement officer had also reportedly spotted Crooks on the ground at the site of the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally earlier on and reported him as a “suspicious” individual, according to WPXI, citing anonymous law enforcement sources. The individual who spotted Crooks on the grounds reportedly took his picture and tried to search for him, but was unsuccessful, the outlet reported.
Absolutely unreal photo taken by @dougmillsnyt reportedly shows a bullet flying by President Trump's head pic.twitter.com/3K8fsGAVWV
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 14, 2024
Reuters, WPXI sister station WHIOTV7 and the New York Post have also reported on WPXI’s story.
Subsequently, one law enforcement officer reportedly reached the roof of the building and encountered Crooks, who reportedly pivoted his weapon in the direction of the officer before the officer retreated from the roof, according to The Associated Press. Shortly thereafter, the gunman took aim at Trump and opened fire, coming within inches of assassinating the former president before law enforcement returned fire and killed the assailant.
A bullet grazed Trump’s ear, nearly killing him, while one attendee was killed and another two injured. Local police personnel were inside the building from which Crooks fired on Trump while the shooter was on the roof, the Secret Service confirmed to ABC News. Little is currently known about Crooks, 20, and his worldview, other than that he had registered as a Republican and had previously made a small donation to a Democrat-aligned political organization, according to Axios.
The Secret Service has drawn considerable scrutiny for its approach to securing the venue site given that the shooter was able to get several clear shots off at Trump before being neutralized. President Joe Biden has called for a “thorough and swift” review of the shooting, and lawmakers are also moving to conduct their own probe of the botched assassination attempt.
The Beaver County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
International
Shocking images appear to show FBI agent with gun drawn raiding bedroom of J6 protester’s baby

From LifeSiteNews
X user John Strand posted what appear to be still-frame photographs taken from body camera footage during a raid on the home of a January 6 prisoner showing an FBI agent storming an infant’s bedroom.
Shocking images that appear to show FBI agents storming an infant’s bedroom with their guns drawn went viral on social media today.
X user John Strand posted what looks to be still-frame photographs taken from body camera footage of an FBI agent during a raid on the home of January 6 prisoner on an unspecified date at least two years ago.
“Shocking photos of a violent FBI raid executed against a peaceful J6er, terrorizing his young children,” Strand said. “The insane part? He had already surrendered to agents—but they assaulted his family at home anyway! THIS is the evil being purged from the FBI—and Democrats defend it?”
According to the Washington Times, Strand was sentenced to two years and eight moths in prison after being found guilty of a felony and four misdemeanors related to his actions in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021. He was released last July after serving a year behind bars in a Louisiana prison. A former model and actor, he is currently the creative director at America’s Frontline Doctors.
Strand has been posting shocking images to his X account for over a year detailing the FBI’s raid on Bobby DeGregoris’ home. DeGregoris was also found guilty of felony and misdemeanor chargers for January 6 activities, per the U.S. District Attorney’s Office website.
In a post published in December 2024, Strand shared a video of the raid while stating, “these fascist government stormtroopers drag his wife and kids into subzero conditions, terrorizing them with assault rifles.”
DeGregoris, who apparently is now free, responded to an X user who reshared Strand’s post.
“This was their Superbowl,” he said to someone who accused the agents of being “excited about the opportunity to put on all their gear and go play cops and robbers.”
On the day he was sworn in, Donald Trump pardoned nearly all of the more than 1,500 January 6 defendants. The document signed by Trump proclaimed that “a grave national injustice … has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years.”
The order further demanded that individuals who were being held in prison be “released immediately” and that all pending indictments against potential January 6 defendants be dismissed.
espionage
Canada Election Monitor Detects PRC Cyber-Attacks on Liberal Leadership Candidate Freeland

Sam Cooper
The evolving nature of these operations may signal a broader effort to influence not only Canada’s general elections but also to shape the selection of the country’s next unelected Prime Minister.
Canada’s election security watchdog has uncovered a coordinated disinformation campaign linked to the People’s Republic of China targeting Chrystia Freeland, a leading candidate against Mark Carney for the Liberal Party leadership.
A statement released Friday by the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force (SITE) revealed that the digital attack was launched on WeChat, a dominant Chinese social media platform, and amplified through at least 30 accounts linked to pro-Beijing influence networks. Experts have previously identified these sources as aligned with PRC-backed information operations.
Freeland has faced some pressure within Liberal circles for asserting that Carney is the favored candidate of Trudeau’s elite staff and the Liberal establishment, after making the statements in a CBC interview.
SITE has briefed the Liberal Party’s executive and Freeland’s campaign team on its findings, emphasizing that it will continue monitoring foreign digital threats that seek to manipulate Canada’s democratic process.
“We will continue to monitor the digital information environment for foreign information manipulation and shine a light on hostile foreign state-backed information operations,” SITE said.
The findings recall a similar interference effort detected during the 2021 federal election, as documented in evidence before the Hogue Commission. At the time, analysts determined that an online disinformation campaign had sought to discourage Canadians of Chinese heritage from supporting the Conservative Party and its leader, Erin O’Toole. The campaign particularly targeted Kenny Chiu, the former Conservative candidate for Steveston-Richmond East, falsely portraying him as anti-China in a coordinated messaging effort across WeChat and Chinese-language media.
In both cases—the 2021 campaign against Conservative candidates and the emerging attack on Freeland—SITE observed coordinated messaging patterns originating from WeChat accounts and Chinese-language news sources tied to Beijing.
During the 2021 election, SITE assessed that false narratives about Chiu and the Conservative Party were widely circulated through WeChat, Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese counterpart), and other digital platforms. Three of the first Chinese-language news accounts to spread the false claims were members of a media partnership with China News Service, a PRC state-run agency operating under the United Front Work Department, Beijing’s key overseas influence arm.
SITE’s findings suggest a similar strategy may now be in play, with Freeland’s leadership campaign becoming a new focal point for online manipulation. The disinformation campaign generated significant engagement, with WeChat articles attacking Freeland drawing more than 140,000 interactions between January 29 and February 3, 2025. SITE estimates between two to three million WeChat users globally may have been exposed to the narratives. The false claims appear to have originated from WeChat’s most popular news account, an anonymous blog previously linked by experts at China Digital Times to Beijing’s influence network, according to SITE’s statement.
SITE’s analysis suggests PRC-linked actors may have viewed the 2021 effort as successful, particularly given the defeat of Chiu and other Conservative candidates in ridings with large Chinese-Canadian populations. If Beijing perceived that operation as effective, it could explain why a similar approach is now targeting an internal leadership race within the governing Liberal Party.
The evolving nature of these operations may signal a broader effort to influence not only Canada’s general elections but also its leadership contests—ultimately shaping the selection of the country’s next unelected Prime Minister.
This story is developing. The Bureau will provide further updates as more details emerge.
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