New questions are emerging about how much information federal investigators actually had on Thomas Crooks – the gunman who nearly assassinated President Donald Trump during a July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Although the FBI initially stated that little was known about Crooks, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, now says that claim doesn’t add up.
Speaking to The National News Desk, Fallon said crucial details were not shared with the congressional task force he chaired, which reviewed the assassination attempt.
“We definitely got stonewalled,” Fallon said.
“When we finally got answers that we thought were fully forthright, now it seems like they weren’t.”
The task force concluded the shooting, in which a bullet grazed Trump’s ear, was preventable.
FBI’s Social Media Findings Spark New Scrutiny
Fallon said he intends to speak with House Oversight Chairman James Comer about recalling former FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate to testify.
In Abbate’s 2024 briefing, he disclosed that investigators identified more than 700 online comments believed to have been written by Crooks between 2019 and 2020, many of them antisemitic or anti-immigrant.
Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.
Fallon says the task force never received these details. “They didn’t share any of the information with us,” he said, via CBS Austin. “It was either deliberate or incompetence.”
He added that the Oversight Committee is the “perfect platform” for further investigation.
While Crooks’ motive remains unclear, the attack had tragic consequences.
Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, was killed shielding his family. Two other attendees, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, were wounded.
Tucker Carlson Accuses FBI of Withholding Crooks’ Digital Trail
Political commentator Tucker Carlson also suggested last week that government officials are covering up what they knew about Crooks, saying on X he can “prove” the FBI misled the public based on Crooks’ online activity.
Carlson pointed to Crooks’ digital footprint and criticized current FBI Director Kash Patel, along with former officials Christopher Wray and Dan Bongino.
Patel responded on X with a defense of the investigation, listing extensive efforts: more than 1,000 interviews, 2,000 public tips, 13 seized devices, nearly 500,000 digital files, hundreds of hours of video, 10 financial accounts, and data from 25 online profiles.
Former FBI Official: Crooks Should Have Been Flagged
Former FBI Special Agent in Charge Jody Weis told The National News Desk that the bureau has the tools to uncover detailed digital histories – and he believes Crooks should have been detected.
“For them to say we just didn’t see much there, that we couldn’t identify a motive – I can’t understand why,” Weis said.
He added that, had Crooks been flagged, agents would have dug deeper and ultimately interviewed him to determine intent.