The FBI on Thursday clapped back at conservative pundit Tucker Carlson after he claimed the agency lied about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man who attempted to assassinate President Trump in Pennsylvania in 2024.
Ahead of a “story tomorrow,” Carlson wrote in a Thursday post on the social platform X, “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?”
The FBI’s “rapid response” X account shared the post with the caption: “This FBI has never said Thomas Crooks had no online footprint. Ever.”
Launched on Thursday, the FBI’s new X handle was set up to combat “an avalanche of lies, smears, and falsehoods from the fake news and others seeking to undermine our work and national security,” the account‘s first post reads.
Crooks fired into a crowd at a rally for Trump while on the campaign trail in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. One rallygoer was killed, while another bullet grazed Trump’s ear. Secret Service agents shot and killed Crooks.
Since the shooting, little is known about Crooks’s motive, having not left any manifesto or online presence. Online searches for “major depressive disorder” were found by The New York Times via a public records request, along with the use of encrypted connection to hide his online footprint. He also viewed websites like NBC News and the Trump campaign site.
In July 2025, six Secret Service agents were suspended in connection with the assassination attempt.
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“The Secret Service does not perform at the elite levels needed to discharge its critical mission,” the agency’s report found, according to CBS News. “The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved.”
A second man who attempted to assassinate Trump in Florida last year, Ryan Routh, was found guilty of five charges, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. He is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 18.
