{"id":2305187,"date":"2024-07-22T10:57:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T14:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-viral-x-image-falsely-claims-trump-rally-shooter-was-transgender\/"},"modified":"2024-07-22T10:59:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T14:59:30","slug":"false-claim-viral-image-incorrectly-states-that-the-shooter-at-a-trump-rally-was-transgender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/false-claim-viral-image-incorrectly-states-that-the-shooter-at-a-trump-rally-was-transgender\/","title":{"rendered":"False claim: Viral image incorrectly states that the shooter at a Trump rally was transgender"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffalse-claim-viral-image-incorrectly-states-that-the-shooter-at-a-trump-rally-was-transgender%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2305187&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The \u200dsummary is\u200d about a viral \u2062image\u2063 shared on \u200bX claiming\u200c that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter at former President \u2063Donald \u2062Trump&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/donald-trump-the-bidens-got-rich-while-americans-got-robbed\/\" title=\"Donald Trump: &#039;The Bidens Got Rich While Americans Got Robbed&#039;\">campaign rally<\/a>,\u200d was transgender. The\u200d claim was proven false as the image did not actually show Crooks\u200b and there is no evidence to \u200csuggest\u200b he was transgender. \u2064Crooks researched school shooter Ethan Crumbley and\u200d how to \u200cbuild explosives before \u2063the\u200b shooting. The image in question originated from \u20624chan and has since been deleted. No <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-a-grindr-executive-really-refer-to-the-rnc-as-the-dating-apps-super-bowl\/\" title=\"FACT CHECK: Did a Grindr executive really refer to the RNC as the dating app&#039;s &#039;Super Bowl&#039;?\">credible news\u2063 reports support<\/a> the claim that Crooks was transgender. Lead Stories and BBC also confirmed that the claim was\u2064 false.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"ob-read-more-selector\">\n<p>A viral image <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Sassafrass_84\/status\/1813776954832584756\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shared on X<\/a>&nbsp;claims Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter who opened fire on 2024 Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump&rsquo;s July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was transgender.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">There were so many red flags, and not one person in the governor could stop this dude? Yea, no. I ain&rsquo;t buying what&rsquo;s selling. I&rsquo;m tired of the lies. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ipk6tX5qEf\">pic.twitter.com\/ipk6tX5qEf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sassafrass84 (@Sassafrass_84) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sassafrass_84\/status\/1813776954832584756?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: False<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The claim is false. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-x-image-of-woman-holding-pro-jewish-sign-is-from-2020-article-not-linked-to-israel-hamas-war\/\" title=\"FACT CHECK: The image of a woman with a pro-Jewish sign is from a 2020 article and is not related to the recent Israel-Hamas conflict\">image originally stems<\/a> from 4chan, where the anonymous user who shared it admitted the image did not actually show Crooks. There is no evidence to suggest Crooks was transgender.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Crooks researched school shooter Ethan Crumbley and &ldquo;took a screenshot of a livestream of Trump speaking&rdquo; before opening fire on his July 13 campaign rally, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/07\/19\/us-news\/thomas-crooks-researched-ethan-crumbley-parents-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the New York Post<\/a>. Crooks also researched how to build explosives, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n<p>The X image, which has been viewed over 300,000 times as of writing, claims Crooks, the shooter who opened fire on Trump&rsquo;s July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was transgender. &ldquo;Anyone know why they aren&rsquo;t using this photo of the shooter?&rdquo; a text caption that appears on the photo reads. The photo shows an individual with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/brooklyn-man-arrested-for-allegedly-stalking-taylor-swift-at-nyc-home\/\" title=\"Brooklyn Man Arrested for Allegedly Stalking Taylor Swift at NYC Home\">long brown hair<\/a>, glasses, and lip piercings dressed in black. &ldquo;There were so many red flags, and not one person in the governor [sic] could stop this dude?,&rdquo; the image&rsquo;s capion reads in part.<\/p>\n<p>The claim is false. The image originally stems from <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/2NMkE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">4chan<\/a>, an anonymous online forum. The anonymous user who shared the image referred to the shooter using a transgender slur. When another user questioned whether the image really showed the shooter, the first user admitted they didn&rsquo;t know, but said it is &ldquo;fun&rdquo; to &ldquo;spread rumors.&rdquo; The post, which can still be viewed via an online archive, has since been deleted.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, Check Your Fact found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?sca_esv=4a42ef09a1334cc3&amp;sca_upv=1&amp;q=thomas+matthew+crooks+transgender&amp;tbm=nws&amp;source=lnms&amp;fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWd8nbOJfsBGGB5IQQO6L3J5MIFhvnvU242yFxzEEp3BfblMs7eBu5zPnhtGsrETMyei1dUN8XCdtE6tzYkSMW5lVfjMUp27RR6IVTgnxcUw-1sLIx1myrJGAk4tPr_3k5PO0umr-Sav3O4LvSjbrmsIdhJbNPTp6KZAwGgtcB4Lx3fc9OBgMd5DLFgawOyYznE3Shyg&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwinwZeOxLOHAxVDFlkFHdBTA1IQ0pQJegQIDRAB&amp;biw=1680&amp;bih=870&amp;dpr=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-does-this-photo-show-an-israeli-clergyman-blessing-guns\/\" title=\"FACT CHECK: Does This Photo Show An Israeli Clergyman Blessing Guns?\">credible news reports<\/a><\/a> to support the claim. In fact, the opposite is true. On July 18, <a href=\"https:\/\/leadstories.com\/hoax-alert\/2024\/07\/fact-check-photo-purporting-to-show-trump-shooter-was-trans-is-not-of-thomas-matthew-crooks.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lead Stories<\/a> reported the claim was false. The outlet also indicated the image originally stemmed from 4chan. Additionally, Shayan Sardarizadeh, a journalist at BBC, labeled the claim as false via a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Shayan86\/status\/1814011432339693666\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 18 tweet<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This image, which falsely claims Trump attacker Thomas Matthew Crooks is trans, is being widely shared,&rdquo; he wrote.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">This image, which falsely claims Trump attacker Thomas Matthew Crooks is trans, is being widely shared.<\/p>\n<p>The same image was posted two days ago on 4chan as a hoax by a user who said &ldquo;spreading rumors is fun&rdquo;. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FsvfRtTQVq\">pic.twitter.com\/FsvfRtTQVq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Shayan86\/status\/1814011432339693666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Furthermore, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/news\/press-releases\/update-on-the-fbi-investigation-of-the-attempted-assassination-of-former-president-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">has not<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/search?lang=en&amp;q=%22thomas%20matthew%20crooks%20was%20transgender%22%20(from%3AFBI)%20lang%3Aen&amp;src=typed_query\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">publicly commented<\/a> on the claim that Crooks was transgender.<\/p>\n<p>Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/news\/crime-courts\/2024\/07\/18\/thomas-crook-donald-trump\/stories\/202407180123\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shot<\/a> Trump at his July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. After opening fire on the former Republican President, Crooks was killed by the U.S. Secret Service. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2024\/07\/18\/fact-check-post-trump-staged-shooting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: X Post Falsely Claims Trump Staged Rally Shooting)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The FBI declined to comment about the photo in an email to Check Your Fact.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A viral image circulating on X falsely claims that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter at Donald Trump&#8217;s campaign rally, was transgender. The image originated from 4chan and the user who shared it admitted it did not actually show Crooks. There is no evidence to suggest that Crooks was transgender. The FBI has not publicly commented on this claim. Crooks, a 20-year-old man, opened fire on Trump at the rally and was subsequently killed by the Secret Service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":2305188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-2161925883-1-scaled-e1721408631823.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32633,6842,33285,32415],"class_list":["post-2305187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-false-claim","tag-shooter","tag-trump-rally","tag-viral-image"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-2161925883-1-scaled-e1721408631823.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2305187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2305188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2305187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2305187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2305187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}