The FBI appears to have been caught lying about the potential motive of the man who tried to kill Donald Trump.

The owner of the social media website Gab described the shooter's alleged posts as "unequivocally pro-Biden" after a public hearing where the FBI suggested that Thomas Matthew Crooks was an extreme right-winger.

The deputy director of the FBI Paul Abbate shared some of the first details about the gunman's digital footprint with Congress Tuesday.

FBI on shooter's motive

While stressing the motive is still uncertain, Abbate said the shooter has been linked with "anti-immigrant" and "anti-Semitic" posts.

The messages were among 700 shared on a social media account in 2019 and 2020, Abbate said.

"Some of these comments, if ultimately attributable to the shooter, appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes to espouse political violence," Abbate said.

"We believe it is important to share and note it today, particularly given the general absence of other information to date from social media and other sources of information that reflect on the shooter's potential motive and mindset," he said.

Biden supporter?

In a post on X, Gab owner Andrew Torba balked at the FBI's testimony and shared an image of the agency's request for the shooter's alleged Gab account.

"The FBI is now claiming that the Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks had an unspecified 'social media account' in 2019/2020 (when he was 14/15 years old) that posted 'anti-immigrant and anti-semitic' content," Torba posted on X.

"This is not consistent with Gab's understanding of the shooter's motives based on an Emergency Disclosure Request ("EDR") we received from the FBI last week for the Gab account 'EpicMicrowave' which, based on the content of that EDR, the FBI appeared to think belonged to Thomas Crooks," he added.

According to Torba, the Gab posts were supportive of Biden, coronavirus lockdowns and immigration.

Abbate was actually confronted about the Gab account during Tuesday's hearing by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R).

He admitted that the shooter appears to have shared left-wing views on Gab in 2021, which would have been more recent than the posts Abbate cited in his opening statement.

"I believe, from what I have been told, that is accurate," he said, when asked if the Gab user shared "pro-immigration, pro-lockdown, leftist views."

President Trump suggested this week that Democrats may have incited the attack by calling him a threat to democracy.