Politix

New footage appears to show would-be Donald Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks lurking in the background of the rally ... an hour before he shot at the former president.

In video recorded by a man who attended Saturday's rally, you can see a person matching Crooks' description -- and he's pacing around the event's perimeter, just on the outskirts of the main event ... right by the building Crooks climbed an hour later to take aim at Trump.

The footage was obtained by WTAE-TV Pittsburgh ... and the Trump supporter who filmed it says when he looked over his footage and noticed Crooks in the background, he couldn't sleep ... let alone believe he'd captured the shooter inadvertently.

President Biden insists he has no plans to drop out of the presidential race -- but is now conceding that there is one scenario that could convince him to do so.

POTUS spoke with BET News correspondent Ed Gordon for a new interview, airing Wednesday, and admitted he'd walk away from his reelection efforts if his doctors advised him to.

He explained ... "If I had some medical condition that emerged and doctors came to me and said, 'You've got this problem, you've got that problem.' ... Look when I originally ran I said I was going to be a transitional candidate, and I thought I'd be able to move from this and pass it on to someone else."

John Hinckley Jr. is speaking on the Donald Trump shooting -- and his position might take some people by surprise ... 'cause he's condemning the attempted assassination.

The ex-con -- who shot Ronald Reagan in the '80s -- took to social media Wednesday to address the fact Thomas Matthew Crooks tried putting a bullet in Trump's head ... the first attempted assassination on a current/former Prez since Hinckley did what he did.

He writes, "Violence is not the way to go. Give peace a chance."

Thomas Matthew Crooks trying to kill Donald Trump seems to have come out of left field -- 'cause his parents didn't know where he was that day ... and called the authorities about it.

According to FOX News ... the gunman's mom and dad were looking for their 20-year-old son Saturday not long before he showed up in Butler, PA for the Trump rally -- only to perch himself on a roof and open fire on the ex-Prez, which cost him his life.

Thomas' mom and dad reportedly called the authorities about his MIA status BEFORE he opened fire at the rally ... which left retired volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore dead.

A Donald Trump-owned website is selling sneakers featuring the iconic image of the former United States President just moments after he was shot and nearly assassinated ... with the limited edition kicks costing $299!

And, they're selling fast.

In addition to the historic photo, the high tops also say, "Fight, Fight, Fight" ... the words Trump yelled moments after the gunfire subsided.

Donald Trump's presidential campaign once profiled the father of attempted assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks ... identifying the guy as a strong Republican who was into guns.

Trump's 2016 campaign amassed a database of millions of voters in swing states and Matthew Brian Crooks was one of them ... with Trump's team determining he was a likely gun owner and "hunter" who would favorably respond to pro-gun rights messaging ... according to data first obtained and revealed by the UK's Channel 4 News.

The would-be assassin's mother, Mary, was profiled by Trump's 2016 campaign too apparently ... and she was also identified as a likely gun owner by campaign researchers.

11:51 AM PT -- Dr. Terry joined us on "TMZ Live" Wednesday morning to further discuss the attempt on Donald Trump's life ... including his theory that DJT's injury might be more superficial than it originally appeared and mentioning the possibility of PTSD for the former prez.

Dr. Terry Dubrow is giving his expert take on Donald Trump's wounded ear -- dishing on what kinda surgery he might need ... which could be uglier than many thought.

We caught up with the "Botched" star Tuesday -- who's a plastic surgeon himself -- and he tells us depending on how much tissue was blown off from the high-velocity bullet impact after the assassination attempt ... Trump might need a "missing parts" surgery.

People in the emergency room at the hospital where Donald Trump was treated after being shot were beside themselves as the motorcade rolled up ... everyone seemed to fear it was JFK all over again.

A man who was recording the scene said out loud that Trump had been shot in the head ... this as 45 was still in the SUV that had just parked outside the ER.

Tiger Woods says he was so affected by the Donald Trump assassination attempt ... he actually lost sleep over it -- and he admitted it affected at least some of his preparation for this week's huge Open Championship.

The golfing legend told BBC Sport he learned of the shooting while on a plane ride from the States to Scotland on Saturday.

Woods said he stayed up all night on his overseas flight glued to the coverage of the attempt on the former President's life ... and it bothered him so much, it impacted his practice round at Royal Troon on Sunday.

Lara Trump says she changed her RNC speech after someone tried taking out her father-in-law ... and the one she gave instead certainly resonated, especially with him.

Donald Trump's daughter-in-law -- who's married to his son, Eric Trump, and who serves as a co-chair for the Republican National Committee -- stepped up to the podium Tuesday at the party's convention in Milwaukee and delivered what many are calling powerful remarks.

Take a listen ... right out of the gate, LT acknowledges she had a very different speech written out before DT was shot on Saturday -- and she reflected on how seeing that felt.

Rep. Matt Gaetz is keeping his beef with ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy alive and well at the RNC -- taunting his nemesis on the floor ... and getting checked in the same breath.

A couple different videos from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee show Gaetz heckling McCarthy as the former congressman gives a TV interview ... interrupting him while he was speaking and mockingly wondering if he was set to speak Tuesday night.

Gaetz -- who led last year's charge to oust McCarthy as House Speaker -- can be overheard taunting KM over his lack of a speaking slot at the RNC ... at which point Gaetz drops the hammer, saying ... "If you took that stage, you would get booed off of it."

Donald Trump's Secret Service detail is catching heat for a security failure after he was shot -- and an ex-agent who worked with him has thoughts on how they could've prevented this.

Mike de Geus -- who worked for the Secret Service during the Trump years, and who used to guard the former President -- tells TMZ there were a lot of problems he saw with the way the Secret Service handled things Saturday, including several glaring issues they missed.

He points out that there are very simple things the agency could've done to block off the clear line of sight Thomas Matthew Crooks had from a building outside the perimeter ... even if that technically wasn't within the Secret Service's ring of protection.

Joe Biden torched Donald Trump's comment about "Black jobs" -- saying the guy must not know the highest positions in government have been occupied by African Americans.

The Prez stopped by the annual NAACP convention in Vegas Tuesday, where he gave a keynote address ... in which he brought up his political rival's debate claim that "Black jobs" are being taken away by illegal immigrants as a result of the border crisis.

Many have blasted 45 over the remark -- calling it racist -- which is probably why Biden invoked it yet again in Sin City ... this time spinning it to note that Barack Obama and Kamala Harris have carried some of the most important "Black jobs" in American history.

Rudy Giuliani clearly wasn't having the best day out in Milwaukee -- he took a tumble right in front of everyone at the Republican National Convention ... and it's pretty sloppy.

Check out this clip that's going viral from inside the RNC facility -- the freshly disbarred lawyer could be seen strolling through day 2 of the convention Tuesday ... when he suddenly lost his footing, stumbling into a row of seats.

You can see him trying to grab onto something, but it just wasn’t happening ... he went down and didn't stop. He hovered for a bit, and it took a full 4 people to help get him off the floor.

Donald Trump surviving an attempted assassination makes him a martyr in the eyes of millions of Americans -- and shakes up the election too ... so says a presidential historian.

Douglas Brinkley -- a professor at Rice University and an expert in all things POTUS history -- tells TMZ ... the shooting gives Trump a chance to ride a wave of momentum to the White House, with DT emerging from the bloody rally looking like a leader and a brave warrior.

The image of a bloodied Trump pumping his fist is giving his campaign a shot in the arm, Douglas says ... and the shooting will likely be talked about and dissected all summer.

Savannah Chrisley is all set to speak at the Republican National Convention Tuesday -- now, we have a sense of what she's gonna say ... her speech will touch on her parents.

The reality star tells TMZ ... she's gonna torch the Department of Justice here in a little bit during her spotlight at the RNC in Milwaukee -- specifically, to call them "corrupt" and slam how they handled Todd and Julie Chrisley's criminal tax case a couple years back.

Savannah says she believes, if re-elected, Donald Trump will right these wrongs -- and she's going to tie her parents' conviction to what she characterizes as the weaponization of the DOJ.