It's been 16 months since that fateful day when then-candidate Donald Trump was nearly killed by a wannabe assassin's bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania, and we still don't know a whole lot about the young man who pulled the trigger. Thomas Crooks is as much a mystery today as he was then, despite MAGA demanding to know why this kid tried to take out Trump, killing rally attendee Corey Comperatore in the process.
Some dribs and drabs have emerged, of course. We know he was a 20-year-old "outcast" when he took his rangefinder and an AR-style rifle up on the roof that day (and we know he was spotted in his sniper's nest by other rally goers before the shooting began). We also know, as reported earlier this year by RedState's Becky Noble, that months before Butler, he had been designing a bomb.
A new report has surfaced that states that for several months before the attempted assassination of Trump, Crooks had been "designing a bomb." He had ordered several components through the mail, and they had not been shipped fast enough. At least one of those components may have been something called nitromethane, of which he ordered two gallons. In January of 2024, he sent an email to the company he had ordered the materials from.
“Hello, my name is Thomas. I placed an order on your website on January 19. I have not received any updates of the order shipping out yet and I was wondering if you still have it and when I can expect it to come.”
But, we really don't know who this guy was, who he may have been in contact with, and why exactly he wanted Trump dead. Those who hoped the books on the Butler near-assassination would be blown wide open when Trump's people took over the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigations have been left somewhat disappointed.
READ MORE: New Disturbing Info on Thomas Crooks Emerging As CBS Pours Major Coat of Sugar on It
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Earlier this week, Tucker Carlson posted a 35-minute video that seemed to show Thomas Crooks had a larger digital footprint than have previously been thought. Carlson claims in his video that his team had accessed Crooks' Google Drive, which included a video of the wannabe assassin dry firing a handgun, and obtained years' worth of Crooks' "violent" online threats.
"Thomas Crooks came within a quarter inch of destroying this country, and yet, a year and a half later, we still know almost nothing about him or why he did it. That’s because, for some reason, the FBI, even the current FBI, doesn’t want us to know," Carlson argued.
Carlson's video, which has racked up over 15 million views, may have been the catalyst for current FBI Director Kash Patel's Friday afternoon tweet, which gave a top-level view of the FBI's efforts in the Thomas Crooks investigation.
Crooks Case Overview:
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) November 14, 2025
Over 480 FBI employees were involved in the Thomas Crooks investigation. Employees conducted over 1,000 interviews, addressed over 2,000 public tips, analyzed data extracted from 13 seized digital devices, reviewed nearly 500,000 digital files, collected,…
Crooks Case Overview:
Over 480 FBI employees were involved in the Thomas Crooks investigation. Employees conducted over 1,000 interviews, addressed over 2,000 public tips, analyzed data extracted from 13 seized digital devices, reviewed nearly 500,000 digital files, collected, processed, and synchronized hundreds of hours of video footage, analyzed financial activity from 10 different accounts, and examined data associated with 25 social media or online forum accounts.
The FBI’s investigation into Thomas Crooks identified and examined over 20 online accounts, data extracted from over a dozen electronic devices, examination of numerous financial accounts, and over 1,000 interviews and 2000 public tips.
The investigation, conducted by over 480 FBI employees, revealed Crooks had limited online and in person interactions, planned and conducted the attack alone, and did not leak or share his intent to engage in the attack with anyone.
The comments under Patel's tweet are a bit salty, with some demanding that Patel go on Carlson's show to directly answer the questions raised by the former Fox News host.
What’s abundantly clear is that there’s still a lot of interest in Thomas Crooks' history and motives, and that's unlikely to go away anytime soon. And the more information that emerges from unofficial sources, the longer people will have issues with the FBI's narrative. There's only one thing for it: radical transparency.
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