Tucker Carlson and Thomas Crooks
Photo : Twitter
Conservative podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson announced that he will reveal evidence claiming the FBI lied about Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old Pennsylvania man who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in July 2024. In a post on X on November 13, Carlson said he had obtained Crooks’ online posts and accused the FBI of concealing his digital activity.
“The FBI told us Thomas Crooks tried to kill Donald Trump last summer but somehow had no online footprint. The FBI lied, and we can prove it because we have his posts. The question is why? Story tomorrow,” Carlson wrote.
The FBI responded through its new “FBI Rapid Response” account on X, denying Carlson’s claim. “This FBI has never said Thomas Crooks had no online footprint. Ever,” the post stated, suggesting the bureau under current leadership had not made such assertions.
What We Know So Far About Thomas Crooks’ Online Footprint
Days after the attempted assassination, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate revealed during a US Senate hearing that investigators had uncovered a social media account believed to be linked to Crooks from 2019–2020, when he was 15 or 16 years old. Abbate said the account contained more than 700 posts, including violent antisemitic and anti-immigration comments that appeared to endorse political violence.
The disclosure was among the first public indications of a possible motive behind the July 13 attack in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Crooks fired an AR-15-style rifle at Trump, grazing his ear, killing one attendee, and injuring two others before Secret Service snipers killed him. Investigators have previously described Crooks as a loner with limited social connections beyond his immediate family.
