Right-Wing Group Makes Questionable Claims About Man Who Shot At Donald Trump

The Oversight Project — part of the powerful right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation — claimed this week that it used mobile ad data from cell phones to track the movements of Thomas Crooks in the year leading up to his attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally earlier this month.

“We found the assassin’s connections through our in-depth analysis of mobile ad data to track movements of Crooks and his associates,” the Oversight Project wrote on social media on Monday , explaining that it had identified nine “devices that were located at Crook’s home and his work within the past year.”

The organization suggested that Crooks may have had some connection to the FBI before the shooting, writing: “Someone who regularly visited Crooks home and work also visited a building in Washington, DC located in Gallery Place. This is in the same vicinity of an @FBI office on June 26, 2023. Who’s device is this?”

The post was catnip for MAGA conspiracy theorists who believe the “deep state” — entrenched bureaucrats in federal agencies and law enforcement — has been trying to sabotage, arrest and now kill Trump.

But beyond the implied conspiracy, which experts told HuffPost has little substance, the Heritage Foundation’s use of mobile ad data signifies a new era of political organizations tracking the movements of American citizens.

That the Heritage Foundation ― which spearheaded Project 2025, the blueprint for an authoritarian second Trump administration, and whose CEO earlier this month warned of potential “bloodshed” with the “radical left” ― has this data raises particular privacy concerns.

The Heritage Foundation did not respond to an email in which HuffPost asked the organization how