FBI Director Kash Patel revealed new details about Thomas Matthew Crooks’s mindset during his failed assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in Butler, Pa., last year. In an interview with investigative journalist Catherine Herridge on “Straight to the Point” from the Los Angeles Times Media Group, Patel described how Crooks acted from a deep hostility toward the U.S. government and the two-party system.
Herridge asked Patel why Crooks, at just 20 years old, was fixated on taking out Donald Trump as he moved toward the GOP nomination last year. At the time, the FBI claimed ideology played no role. But that was not the case.
“He [Crooks], as has been publicized, had a basically hateful relationship with the United States government, talked disparagingly about both political parties, to include President Trump, and talked about the need to take matters into his own hands,” Patel said of the shooter's motive. “And, unfortunately, that’s what he did.”
“When we came in, our job was to both treat the president as a president [of] the United States and [as] a victim and remind the American public that there were three other victims, and, tragically, one person [Corey Comperatore] even lost his life,” Patel explained. “So, there are certain victims’ rights that we have to honor.”
Patel continued, “But what we did and what we presented and what we released is the full findings that we are able to publicize to the world that definitively answer questions regarding Butler. We seized dozens and dozens of devices. We exploited and got into every single one of those devices. We got on to all the online platforms and social media sites of the assailant, of Crooks. And we did a recanvassing just to double down since we got in and inherited this case, and we gave out information to Congress and the public that the prior administration refused to do.”
Patel told Herridge that the FBI’s evidence points to a simple conclusion: Crooks acted alone as he tried to end Trump’s life, calling it the “conclusive finding of the matter.”
Herridge, perhaps not completely convinced, pushed further. “Is there evidence of foreign involvement?” she asked.
Patel said the bureau tracked down everything they found.
“As we indicated in our public disclosures, Thomas Crooks had some online platforms where he engaged through email with a couple of individuals overseas, and we chased those down literally to the end,” he recounted. “And basically, it was just that — online email accounts overseas, without any substantive communication.”
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As you may remember, in the frantic days after the Pennsylvania attack, several outlets floated claims about U.S. authorities receiving intelligence on a supposed Iranian plot against Trump. No link has been uncovered. The Justice Department later charged three individuals in November 2024 over an alleged Iranian plan to assassinate Trump, but there is no connection between the two plots.
Herridge pressed Patel again, asking him to clarify “the discrepancies and confusion over Crooks’ online activity” before he opened fire at Trump’s rally.
“In media, everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and everyone’s entitled to put out whatever they want to put out. But what we, the FBI, are not entitled to do is trample over your First Amendment rights. And so, while people are asking why the prior [Biden] administration didn’t find Thomas Crooks earlier — and it’s a valid question, by the way,” Patel noted, “one, you can ask the prior administration; we weren’t here. But two, this FBI, or any FBI, doesn’t have the ability to go out and monitor — nor should it — people who are on YouTube or on social media platforms or on email platforms.”
“We have to balance both the criminality, if there is such, versus the First Amendment protections, which we must adhere to,” the FBI director said.
Despite the latest information, Patel said the case is not officially closed.
“How we treat cases like this, of such great public importance, is we put them in a pending-slash-inactive status, so if there’s new information that comes in, we can receive it and react to it, and we don’t want to foreclose that possibility,” he explained.
According to Patel, Trump is “satisfied” with what investigators uncovered during their recent scrutiny.
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