New concerns have arisen regarding what investigators knew about Thomas Crooks, the gunman involved in the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. This occurred during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
Last year, U.S. politics faced a major upheaval as Crooks’ actions almost changed the political scene permanently. With an AR-15-style rifle in hand, Crooks fired from a roof near the rally, causing the tragic loss of an audience member and a firefighter. Trump, who was close to securing the Republican Party’s nomination, was injured on his upper right ear during the incident.
In the incident’s wake, the FBI initially claimed limited prior knowledge of Crooks. However, recent revelations suggest that may not have been entirely accurate, raising questions about what was truly known.
Texas Representative Pat Fallon disclosed to The National News Desk his belief that significant information wasn’t shared with the congressional task force responsible for examining the assassination attempt.
“We definitely got stonewalled,” Fallon expressed.
“When we finally got answers that we thought were fully forthright, now it seems like they weren’t.”
The task force ultimately concluded that the attempt on Trump’s life might have been averted.
In a 2024 briefing, former FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate mentioned that they found over 700 online comments by Crooks between 2019 and 2020, many echoing antisemitic and anti-immigrant sentiments. Yet, Fallon claims that this was never relayed to his team.
“They didn’t share any of the information with us,” Fallon insisted in his conversation with CBS Austin. “It was either deliberate or incompetence.”
Fallon also aims to discuss with House Oversight Chairman James Comer about recalling Abbate for further testimony.
Meanwhile, noted political commentator Tucker Carlson has suggested that officials concealed what they knew about Crooks. Carlson confidently posted on social media platform X, claiming he can prove that the FBI provided misleading information concerning Crooks’ digital activities.
Carlson criticized various FBI figures like Director Kash Patel and ex-officials Christopher Wray and Dan Bongino, especially questioning how Crooks managed to evade their view with his online presence.
FBI Director Kash Patel defended the thoroughness of their investigation. He emphasized they conducted over 1,000 interviews, handled 2,000 leads from the public, seized 13 devices, went through half a million digital files, and reviewed extensive videos, among other efforts.
Former FBI Special Agent in Charge Jody Weis shared with The National News Desk his opinion that the FBI should have recognized the threat Crooks posed prior to the attempt on July 23.
“To say we just didn’t see much there, that we couldn’t identify a motive – I can’t understand why,” Weis commented.
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