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Thomas Matthew Crooks wasn't a fan of Donald Trump years before attempting to assassinate the former Prez ... so says one of his former classmates.

Vincent Taormina -- who went to high school with the would-be assassin -- spoke with FOX News about Thomas' political beliefs leading up to Saturday's attack ... and he says TMC didn't like politicians, period. However, he apparently really recoiled at the thought of DT.

Vince says he and Thomas had gotten into a heated debate ahead of the 2016 presidential election -- and he describes the guy as smug and arrogant when discussing topics he was passionate about, which included politics apparently.

Thomas Matthew Crooks was a member at a local gun club in Pennsylvania -- and even went a day before firing upon Donald Trump -- but he didn't leave a lasting impression on very many people who regularly go there ... TMZ has learned.

We've called around and connected with a handful of current members at the Clairton Sportsmen's Club -- not far from Crooks' home -- and the answer we got from just about all of them was the same ... nobody had ever heard of this guy before Saturday's shooting.

Bob Wolanin -- a longtime Clairton member -- tells us the name and face didn't stand out to him at all ... and ditto for another member and even a current worker at the club -- who didn't want their names out there -- but who relayed a similar sentiment ... namely, Thomas was a ghost as far as they're concerned.

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."

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.

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.

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.

A private call between RFK Jr. and Donald Trump just hours after the assassination attempt was made public, and RFK Jr. is horrified his son is the culprit who posted it.

During the call, Trump talked about his phone conversation with President Joe Biden just after the shooting. Trump says Biden was inquisitive as to how he chose to turn his head to the right -- a move that probably saved his life.

Trump says he told Biden he turned because he was referring to a chart, although he was not specific. The chart was an indictment of Biden's immigration policies.

Tenacious D singer Kyle Gass' birthday wish about taking out Trump has turned into his worst nightmare -- 'cause his management team is cutting him off ... TMZ has learned.

Michael Greene of Greene Talent -- which was repping Kyle of late -- tells TMZ ... they've parted ways with Kyle, and no longer represent him as a direct result of his incendiary comments.

This comes shortly after Jack Black announced they're pulling the plug on the rest of their tour ... so it looks like Kyle's career has taken a hit, for now, following his "Don't miss Trump next time" comment ... which pissed off a helluva lot of people.

Donald Trump showed up to the Republican National Convention this week with an army of Secret Service agents ... none of whom were women, which is sparking an interesting convo.

The ex-Prez -- who just survived an assassination attempt over the weekend -- popped up in Milwaukee for night #1 of the convention ... marking the first time he appeared at a public event since Thomas Matthew Crooks tried putting a bullet in his head Saturday.

Of course, since then ... everyone has been saying his security detail would be beefed up -- including President Biden, who dedicated more protection -- and that was apparent Monday.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is speaking out for the first time following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump ... calling the whole ordeal "unacceptable."

The longtime member of the Secret Service -- who became director in September 2022 -- addressed Saturday's shooting with ABC News correspondent Pierre Thomas on Monday. As Cheatle put it ... she has taken full responsibility for the attack, making it clear the incident should've "never happened."

She added ... "The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary."