Three days after the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump, federal investigators have yet to uncover the motives of the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks. What little has been uncovered about Crook’s political views is ambiguous and inconsistent, with the New York Times reporting that he was a registered Republican who also donated to the Progressive Turnout Project.
The uncertainty surrounding the case, however, has not stopped Colorado’s far-right politicians and activists from passing their judgment on the incident. Election denier and podcaster Joe Oltmann took to Facebook soon after the shooting, spreading false information and even equating Colorado journalists, including the Colorado Times Recorder’s very own Erik Maulbetsch, Heidi Beedle, and Sharon Sullivan to terrorists.
“Shooter is a rabid antifa member,” Oltmann wrote. “Like Erik Maulbetsch of the Colorado Times Recorder or Sean Heidi Beedle of the same organization. Or Kyle Antifa Clark of 9news.… These are evil, disgustingly vile people and they need to be held accountable. They are terrorists.”
Both Maulbetsch and Beedle have extensively covered Oltmann’s activism, including ties to extremist groups, conspiracy movements, and the ongoing defamation lawsuit against Oltmann for claims that former Dominion executive Eric Coomer took part in an “antifa conference call,” claims that a Denver District judge described as “probably false.” Sullivan, a freelance contributor to CTR, recently reported on the incendiary comments made by Oltmann at an event in Grand Junction.
Oltmann’s unfounded comments have not been exceptional among Colorado’s right wing. Directly following the shooting, U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) was interviewed on the conservative Jeff and Bill Show, where she placed responsibility for the attack on Trump on President Biden and the left.
“To hear Joe Biden say that President Trump needs to be put in the bull’s eye. I mean, that right there is a direct call for an assassination,” Boebert said. “The left’s rhetoric is dangerous. And, I hope that this is a big wake up call to them, that their words absolutely matter.”
Here Boebert references a private call between Biden and donors made before the shooting. Biden used the term “bull’s eye” to convey that attention should be directed towards Trump. While the comment was ill-timed, it certainly is not evidence of “a direct call for an assassination,” as Boebert would have listeners of her interview believe.
Neither Boebert or Oltman have clarified or reevaluated their views in the intervening days, as the investigation has yet to produce concrete answers.
