An attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania involves Thomas Matthew Crooks, who multiple outlets report used the alias “Bob Dole” to conceal aspects of his activity beforehand. New York Post and Fox News both say federal records reviewed by their reporters indicate Crooks adopted the pseudonym when making purchases or placing orders tied to the period leading up to the shooting.
Both outlets also link the alias to efforts to limit exposure, citing claims that Crooks was attentive to how his digital trail could be traced. Fox News further reports additional details connected to the aftermath of Crooks’s death, including documentation related to cremation payments from an unnamed donor.
The reporting differs in emphasis: New York Post highlights Crooks’s focus on minimizing his digital footprint and concealing purchase history, while Fox News stresses the alias’s connection to specific transactions and includes added material about cremation arrangements. Both accounts attribute the information to records and documentation, without presenting full details in the excerpted reports.
