Shortly after the July assassination attempt on Donald Trump by Thomas Crooks, many questions were immediately raised, and for good reasons. To be fair, there are still ongoing questions about the Secret Service's handling of Trump's security during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and whether this was all just a matter of incompetence, insufficient staffing, or something potentially darker. But as for Crooks himself, after a week or so I slowly became convinced that Crooks was something of an aberration. He eventually struck me as an isolated, lonely, likely psychotic incel who decided to make a name for himself and go out with a bang. (Literally.) But the latest development in the case once again has my inner conspiracy theorist rattling the walls of its cage and screaming that there is still something very wrong about this story. Crooks' parents have now retained some experienced and likely expensive defense attorneys to act on their behalf. But why? (Daily Mail)

The parents of Trump shooter Thomas Crooks have hired a team of powerhouse attorneys as the FBI continues to investigate just how much they knew ahead of their son's assassination attempt on the former president, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

The development comes as one family member shared with DailyMail.com that the FBI, 'still very much has questions' regarding how much the killer's parents knew – while revealing that his father Matthew Crooks, 53, is a gun enthusiast who has sold firearms to relatives in the past.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, the family member who asked not to be named said, 'The FBI still very much has questions about how much they knew and how he [Thomas] slipped through the net.'

The idea that someone may have assisted Thomas Crooks was given new credence on Thursday by Florida US Rep. Mike Waltz. In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com he questioned whether the 20-year-old acted alone.

If the entire story we've been told about the final months of Thomas Crooks' life and his sudden death on a non-slanted rooftop in Butler, Pennsylvania was true, it's unclear to me why his parents would feel the need to have some powerhouse attorneys on their team. Two possibilities come to mind, one of them potentially practical and the other more fitting of a YouTube documentary. 

The practical explanation might be that the parents are worried about the families of the victims bringing wrongful death lawsuits against them and they are taking precautions. On the surface, that might make sense because such lawsuits following tragedies are common. But litigious plaintiffs (and their attorneys) tend to go after the deepest pockets they can identify. Matthew Crooks doesn't fit that profile. Also, if everything we've been told about the family is true (this remains a very large "if"), he and his wife would seem to have a rather fireproof alibi. Their son reportedly never said a word about having any such inclinations and gave them no reason to suspect that he would do anything so violent. The parents were taken by surprise and horror as much as the rest of the country.

Yet in light of these new revelations about "lawyering up," some of the details we were previously given are making less and less sense. Thomas Crooks was an adult at age 20 in a state where anyone could legally own and use a rifle at 18. He was a member of a local shooting range where he practiced frequently. So why, on the day of the shooting, would his father call the police and report not only his son, but one of his rifles missing? I asked myself this question initially but was persuaded to put the idea aside. Now I'm not so sure. That sounds like someone who knew that "something wicked this way comes" and was establishing an alibi for later.

Thomas Crooks also built multiple explosives with remote detonators. Nothing in his background suggests that he had any training in explosives. I suppose it's possible that a smart enough kid could find that information on the dark web someplace, but he would still need to be able to source the explosive materials. He supposedly had virtually no presence on social media aside from an online gaming chat group where he appeared to announce his plans vaguely a few days in advance. But it was only later revealed that he had many overseas, online contacts. Who were they and how did it take so long for our intelligence agencies to suss that out? And we now know that Thomas Crooks was cremated only ten days after his death. Why? And where are the autopsy results?

As noted above, I had come to believe that this mystery was solved. and could safely be shelved in the history books as a twisted aberration. Now I'm back to the drawing board with more questions than before. It's sounding more and more like getting information on this out of the Secret Service and the Department of Justice has been a process of pulling teeth for a reason. But if Crooks had allies in this effort, we need to know who they were and how it all actually unfolded.