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Posted on 10/02/2026 1:42:33 PM PDT by DFG
(Washington, D.C.) – Judicial Watch announced that it received 249 pages of new Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) records through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit concerning Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who attempted to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at a July 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The records include photos taken of the Pittsburgh area by Crooks using a drone, cell phone evidence that shows that Crooks received fundraising appeals for Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), a package delivery from Hong Kong, and an unusual chat thread between Crooks and an unidentified person.
Judicial Watch filed its July 2025 FOIA lawsuit after the FBI failed to respond to a July 2024 request for records concerning Crooks and the assassination attempt (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv-02216)). The Justice Department has indicated that the total volume of records in the Crooks investigative file numbers approximately 75,000 pages. At their current release rate of approximately 500 pages per month, it will take 12 years for Judicial Watch to be provided with all the records.
An FBI electronic communication dated July 19, 2024, concerns a cell phone conversation in the Crooks investigation described as a “chat thread” between Crooks and a recipient whose name is redacted. The conversation occurred between May 21, 2023, and January 3, 2024.
The outgoing messages consist largely of one- and two-word messages or character strings, including:
Hello Hello red Hello red Hdudhdbdbbd 7888ejdj Yolo Ddodjjf 890 Hdjd Djdj red Yup red Hello Jhhhuuh Hhdj Jjjjjjjjjjjj Hello red Red red …
The incoming messages are completely redacted from this text chain.
A report titled “Samsung Messaging Review” is dated July 18, 2024, and details the FBI’s identification of other communications on a Crooks cell phone as “pertinent” to its investigation. FBI agents noted:
Conversation with unknown contact [redacted] 8 February 2023 to 10 February 2023; Conversations with [redacted] 9 January 2023 to 16 January 2023; Conversations with [redacted] 12 December 2022 to 26 December 2022.
The FBI also noted text messages consisting of campaign solicitations from then-U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock and DHL shipment notifications from Hong Kong.
Much of the new production consists of FBI laboratory analysis of a drone examined as part of the Crooks investigation.
An FBI laboratory report dated July 19, 2024, details their technical exploitation of Thomas Crooks’ drone. They indicate they successfully extracted 40 images from the drone and eight flight logs. The images were taken between February 6, 2024, and February 27, 2024, in the Pittsburgh area. Seven of the eight flights occurred in the Allegheny-West, PA, area and an eighth flight on July 13, 2024, in the Butler, PA, area. The data pulled from the device indicates that it had been powered on 15 times.
“These latest records reveal more pieces of the puzzle surrounding Thomas Crooks,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The FBI should stop the slow drip of heavily redacted records and immediately provide the full investigative record – especially since the death last week of James Copenhaver, who was severely injured from being shot during the assassination attempt on President Turmp.”
In September 2026, this lawsuit uncovered heavily redacted FBI records revealing that Crooks purchased “a chest rig and ceramic plates,” exhibited increasingly unusual behavior, including talking to himself, pacing at night, staying awake for extended periods and exhibiting impulsivity issues.
In June 2026, this lawsuit forced the release of heavily redacted records from the FBI that indicated that a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) officer at the July 2024 presidential rally for Donald Trump in Butler, PA, recovered a “gray remote device” with an antenna from Crooks’ pocket after he was killed.
In May 2026, Judicial Watch received, in response to a Pennsylvania court order, an audio recording of a 911 call placed by the father of Crooks.
In April 2026, Judicial Watch’s federal FOIA lawsuit forced the release of the first FBI records about the Butler assassination attempt, revealing that law enforcement personnel broadcast radio warnings about an “unknown male acting suspiciously” prior to the shooting.
Also in April 2026, the lawsuit forced the release of records from the FBI that showed that Crooks was reportedly involved in an altercation with a group of people and making “hateful comments” directed at President Trump at the Butler, PA, rally.
In August 2024, Judicial Watch uncovered documents under a Pennsylvania open record request from the district attorney’s office in Butler County, PA, detailing the extensive preparation of local police for the rally at which former President Trump was shot. The preparation included sniper teams, counter assault teams and a quick response force.
In August 2024, in response to a Pennsylvania open records request, Judicial Watch obtained bodycam footage of the July 13 assassination events from the Butler Township Police Department.
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I would really like to see a full explanation for why so much of this stuff needs to be redacted.
January 3, 2024 is an interesting day…
Another bloodthirsty wacko was posting in Telegram on that day:
“…A mentally unstable leftist shot 3 Muslims in Burlington, VT and every political figure, including Biden and Kamala, and the entire media falsely claimed it was “Islamophobia” and “anti-Palestinianism” until it turned out that the shooter supported Hamas.
A mentally unstable woman walks into a pro-Israel church with a rifle that says “Palestine” on it after appearing in a hijab and there’s uncomfortable fidgeting. The police claimed that she had “antisemitic writings”, they neglected to mention the overt support for Islamic terrorism.
Moreno’s Telegram posts indicate she began planning the attack at least a month prior to the shooting and initially considered targeting a pro-Israel rally. “I call on all Muslim college people invite me to the next pro-Israel rally I will have two surprises in support of PALESTINE,” she wrote in a January 3, 2024, post.
In another January 3, 2024, post, Moreno wrote, “ALLAH is willing, I will …. Jews to send my message to Walli Carranza. Don’t worry my MUSLIMS brothers I am pass the threat phase. I’m in planning mode. Please don’t message me private trying to stop me.”….”
May 21, 2023…
Interesting.
The day after that call, this other apparently unrelated young nutjob [the Indian kid with the brand spanking new Nazi flag fresh out of the bag ] takes action himself:
Kandula, from suburban Chesterfield, Missouri, appears to have acted alone. He flew cross-country on May 22, rented a U-Haul truck and drove straight to the White House.
A Secret Service officer who interviewed him later said Kandula told him he’d planned his mission over the course of six months, and would “kill the President if that’s what I have to do,” to achieve his goal.***
Me too. It’s not like they’re gonna charge HIM. Redact anything that migh jeopardize the investigation of others, but that should be a very small amount from what’s been released already
Maybe they can tell us who guided him to that exact spot
Two years new…..wow…..total bullshit.
Thank God for Judicial Watch. Crooks was a freak and he should be alive and confessing today.
In my opinion, full revelations would probably expose a high-level conspiracy behind the Butler assassination attempt, and the Trump administration is not able to "reach out and touch" the conspirators. At least, not yet.
Even if and when Trump can do something effective against his mortal enemies, it might still best be done out of public view.
Government power is a fragile illusion, sustained by contending factions who must present consistent public images and abide by certain behavioral rules in order to keep the system running.
None of the factions have as much power as they pretend to have. All factions screw up frequently and try to keep their mistakes quiet.
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