Free Republic

Shooter's motives still unclear despite extensive investigation into the attack that nearly changed American history.. As the one-year mark nears since the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, questions remain unanswered; notably, why did Thomas Matthew Crooks carry out the attack, and how did he get so close? Despite the year's passage, the mystery endures surrounding the 20-year-old Pennsylvania native’s motivation. Fox News Digital spoke with two former federal officials about the lingering questions. Former FBI agent John Nantz said Crooks did not fit the profile of a politically motivated extremist. "Crooks looked not so much like an ideologue, not...

Ex-Obama officials face federal grand jury probe into whether they promoted false Trump-Russia ties WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has convened a federal grand jury to investigate former Obama administration officials who allegedly conspired to foment a scandal about President Trump’s purported links to Russia during the 2016 election campaign, The Post has learned. The major legal development opens the door to criminal charges against prominent Cabinet members who served then-President Barack Obama, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey.

The Secret Service abruptly halted the security clearance renewal for former Director Kimberly Cheatle. Secret Service Director Sean Curran reversed course and decided against renewing Cheatle’s top-level security clearance after RealClearPolitics brought up Senator Ron Johnson’s opposition to the agency. RealClearPolitics reported: The Secret Service was moving forward with renewing former Director Kimberly Cheatle’s top-level security clearance but reversed course after RealClearPolitics inquired about a key senator’s opposition, according to multiple sources in the Secret Service community. Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and previously chaired the full Homeland Security panel, argued that...

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” — Ian Fleming, Goldfinger “…probabilities cannot be bribed to deceive, and … they cannot be convicted of bearing false witness.” — Aristotle, Rhetoric, Book 1, Chapter 15 On July 13, 2024, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, before witnesses and unimpeded by law enforcement, climbed onto the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building at the Butler Farm Show. He was 441 feet away from the stage on which candidate Donald Trump was addressing 15,000 enthusiastic supporters. From that perch, Crooks used a semi-automatic rifle to rapidly fire eight rounds at...

WASHINGTON, D. C. - U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli wants to mark the yearly anniversary of the day an assassin tried to shoot President Trump as a national “Faith and Defiance Day.” The Salem, Ohio, Republican announced Friday that he’s introduced a resolution to designate the yearly anniversary of the 2024 attempt on Trump’s life on July 13 as “Faith and Defiance Day” to honor Trump, and those who were killed and injured at the political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Rulli says he was inspired when Trump stood up after a bullet grazed his ear, with his fist raised, “telling us...

For decades, Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan dominated the state’s political system, corrupting it to his own ends. What should we make of his ouster? The Chicago machine turned out some of the most notorious names in American public corruption, including Anton Cermak, Richard J. Daley, and Ed Kelly. The machine also turned out Mike Madigan, who ruled over Illinois politics for 50 years, 36 of which he spent calling the shots as House speaker. Most people thought Madigan would only leave office in handcuffs or a casket. Most people were wrong. For the first time since 1970, “the Velvet...

One of the great things about the Internet Age is the opportunity to discover the words and ideas of people who don’t have publishing contracts or university tenures. Usually written anonymously or under online handles, there is genius lurking everywhere (even in the comment sections of these articles). One such jewel caught my eye recently: “Imagine a government operated so poorly they had to import an entire nation of new voters because they lost the citizen vote.” Another argued, “If your country has enough money to give to other countries, your taxes are too high.” If our celebrity intellectuals were...

The 20-year-old who, six months later, would open fire at President Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally — striking his ear and killing an audience member — was busy polishing his applications to transfer from community college to a four-year engineering program. Crooks was gathering transcripts and asking friends to review his personal statement. He was also designing a bomb. Oh. Yeah, kind of an important fact to throw into the mix. Apparently, Crooks had placed an order for “more than two gallons of nitromethane from an online speciality fuel retailer using an encrypted email account.” “Twelve days later Crooks’...

The world’s richest man is dying to figure out how lawmakers on Capitol Hill got “strangely wealthy” despite their comparatively modest public salaries. Speaking at a town hall in Wisconsin Sunday night, Elon Musk suggested that his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will investigate how certain members of Congress have achieved generational wealth. One attendee at the town hall had asked Musk if DOGE had uncovered evidence of funds wired from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “They’ll [the government]...

(CNN) -- In her race to defeat Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Alison Lundergan Grimes has barnstormed Kentucky, talking up her support for raising the minimum wage and criticizing the GOP's so-called war on women. But the restaurant owned by Grimes' family doesn't always practice what she preaches, and Kentucky Republicans have been happy to point that out. .... But minimum wage isn't the only issue dogging Grimes' family business. Hugh Jass Burgers -- say it out loud to get the joke -- has menu items like "Charlotte's Rack, sure to be voted biggest rack" named after Grimes' mom and...

BETHEL PARK, Pa. — It’s been almost nine months since a seemingly mild-mannered 20-year-old attempted to alter the course of history by trying to assassinate then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a rally in Butler. Sources told The Post the FBI has obstructed efforts to solve the mystery of why Thomas Matthew Crooks, who left no manifesto, did what he did. It’s left local law enforcement as well as Crooks’ former friends, classmates and teachers and even Elon Musk frustrated. Those who may know, Crooks’ parents Matthew and Mary, have refused all interviews so far and remain in their small,...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson 🚨Kristi Noem PLEDGES to expose what really happened in the assassination attempts against President-elect Trump: Josh Hawley: “Will do ensure it never happens again? Noem: “Yes.” "I will work to get info so we have the truth of what really happened so it can be fixed." 9:40 AM · Jan 17, 2025

I highly recommend that you take the time to listen to the Tucker Carlson interview with Sean Davis, six months after the near-assassination of Donald Trump. The entire hour and a half is well worth your time, but at least watch the first 15 minutes. Half a year after Butler, there is still a thick blanket of secrecy surrounding Thomas Matthew Crooks. Who was he? What was his motivation? Was he a lone wolf, part of a group, or did he have help? Davis breaks this question into four options: Option 1: Butler was a “total SNAFU.” An amazing combination...

‘I refuse to believe this was just a series of unfortunate accidents and incompetence,’ Davis said. ‘It’s just not.’ Federalist CEO Sean Davis dropped some stunning details about the July 13 assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life in a Friday conversation with Tucker Carlson on “The Tucker Carlson Show.” The conversation explored how, six months after the shooting, despite a congressional investigation, little is known — or has been released — about the shooter, and the incident quickly fell out of the news cycle. Davis began the interview by describing three critical things the American people need to know: the...

Federalist CEO Sean Davis blasted the FBI for stonewalling Congress’s investigation into the first assassination attempt against President-elect Donald Trump. The moment came during a Friday interview, in which Davis was asked by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson what information is publicly available about Thomas Crooks, the would-be assassin who tried to kill Trump at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The 20-year-old was killed by law enforcement shortly after the attempt on the incoming president’s life and information about his activities leading up to the shooting has remained scarce.Davis noted despite the near assassination having occurred months ago, Americans “still...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson 🚨BREAKING: A new provision in the latest CR lets Congress block subpoenas for House data, including emails, potentially preventing any investigation into the J6 Committee.

Within hours of his apprehension in Pennsylvania in connection with the cold-blooded murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, scads of information rolled out about the life and times of suspect Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man who has been accused of the killing, and in a very short period of time, the Internet being a fast medium. We've seen pictures of his family, and heard their statements of shock and regret at the news. We learned he grew up wealthy, the son of the owner of two resorts near Baltimore. We learned he once worked in a nursing home owned by...

An unbelievably explosive exchange erupted in the House of Representatives this morning involving disgraced acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe and a Texas Republican congressman. As the New York Post reported, Rep. Pat Fallon read Rowe the riot act during a hearing on the two assassination attempts against Donald Trump. After slamming Rowe for waiting multiple days before visiting the Butler, Pa., the site where Trump was nearly gunned down by a Democrat donor named Thomas Crooks in July, things then took an even uglier turn when Fallon displayed a picture of Trump and Biden at Ground Zero. “Do you...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican's Pension Fund In Serious Trouble - Francis Called for "Sacrifices"Francis has appointed Cardinal Kevin Farrell as sole administrator of the Vatican's embattled pension fund.Francis said Thursday in a letter to the College of Cardinals that the Vatican's pension fund faces a "serious imbalance," but did not quantify the extent of the problem.Francis wrote to the cardinals that "urgent structural measures" are needed to deal with the fund's significant deficit. He announced "difficult decisions" and called for "sacrifice on the part of everyone.""This means that the current system will not be able to guarantee the fulfillment of pension...

The Secret Service was warned of a “credible” threat in the days leading up to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, but failed to act accordingly, according to a damning bipartisan Senate report released Wednesday. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs released an interim report on the attack that detailed numerous “failures” by the Secret Service to secure the site and to respond to threats. “The Committee finds that USSS failures in planning, communications, security, and allocation of resources for the July 13, 2024 Butler rally...