Thomas Matthew Crooks donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project.
The left-wing voter-turnout group that once received a small donation from the man suspected of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump described the former president as a “threat to our democracy” just hours before the shooting but is denouncing the violence unleashed at Saturday’s rally in Pennsylvania.
“While we vehemently disagree with Donald Trump, we believe our differences must be settled with ballots—not bullets,” a spokesperson for the Progressive Turnout Project wrote in an email to National Review. “We unequivocally condemn political violence in all of its forms, and we denounce anyone who chooses violence over peaceful political action.”
Thomas Matthew Crooks donated $15 to the far-left group on January 20, 2021 — the day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The organization does not appear to have advertised any specific events that day, though it did post a link to the inauguration online.
The small donation is the only political contribution so far that has been linked to Crooks, who was a 20-year-old registered Republican, according to the New York Times. Crooks was killed by Secret Service agents after authorities say he shot at Trump during his rally.
The Illinois-based Progressive Turnout Project was founded ahead of the 2016 election by Harry Pascal, a left-wing activist who had previously worked as a campaign treasurer for a Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois. The group raised $80.6 million and spent $78.1 million in 2020, according to Open Secrets, the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that tracks money in politics. In 2022, it raised $48.6 million and spent $44.4 million.
This year the Progressive Turnout Project aims to participate in 401 campaigns, knock on over five million doors, and reach more than 36 million voters. The organization also has what it calls a Progressive Takeover initiative to elect left-wing candidates to state legislatures. It’s Stop Republicans campaign, which includes micro-targeted digital ads, is “dedicated to resisting the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy,” according to the group’s website.
On Saturday morning, just hours before Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., the Progressive Turnout Project posted on X: “It’s simple people: Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and another four years of him would be detrimental to our country.”
Upon the revelation that Cook once made a small donation to the Progressive Turnout Project, some X users alleged that the group was “partially responsible” for the attack and that it’s “supporters are violent.”
“Looks like one of your donors got the message,” one X user wrote. “you must feel proud.”