President Donald Trump alleged on September 15 that records from the investigation of the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt were “missing, altered, corrupted, or gone” when he returned to office on January 20, 2025. He also asserted without evidence that the shooting was a Democratic plot and criticized former FBI Director Christopher Wray. The Stat Crux Report post shared a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social statement; neither post provided documentary support for the allegation that investigative material was changed or destroyed.
Hours later, Attorney General Todd Blanche said the FBI had found new information about shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, including details about his background and history, but did not disclose those details. Reuters reported that prior investigations concluded Crooks acted alone and found no evidence that Democrats were involved. The Justice Department and FBI did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, and Wray could not be reached.
The development followed reports on federal interview records reviewed by Fox News and the New York Post. Those outlets said an anonymous donor paid to cremate Crooks after the shooting, citing an FBI interview summary and information attributed to a lawyer for the family. The donor was not identified, and no reason for the payment was disclosed. The payment does not, by itself, establish that the donor had any connection to the attack or committed wrongdoing.
The cremation itself was already public. In an August 2024 preliminary report, Rep. Clay Higgins said Crooks’s body was released to his family for cremation 10 days after the shooting. The FBI said at the time that the release was coordinated with the coroner and state and local law enforcement and followed normal procedures.
Crooks killed rally attendee Corey Comperatore, seriously wounded David Dutch and James Copenhaver, and injured Trump before a Secret Service counter-sniper killed him. The newly acknowledged information has not been publicly detailed, so it does not yet establish Crooks’s motive or substantiate Trump’s claims about the handling of the files.
