A House lawmaker is now calling for a new investigation into the attempted assassination of then-candidate Donald Trump, after newly surfaced online posts have been tied to gunman Thomas Crooks, according to a whistleblower who spoke to the New York Post. The social media imagery and screenshots were never released by the FBI, and the bureau has not confirmed or denied whether the social media content belonged to accounts associated with Crooks.
The disclosures from the whistleblower are prompting fresh scrutiny from lawmakers who say the bureau never shared any of this material with Congress.
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House committee members react
Several members of the bipartisan task force that investigated the July 2024 shooting now accuse the FBI of “stonewalling” their probe.
Rep. Pat Fallon, a Texas Republican who served on the committee, told the New York Post the newly revealed social-media activity attributed to Crooks “was never brought to us,” calling the omission serious enough to warrant reopening the investigation.
“I don’t think it would do any harm at all,” Fallon said. “You can’t investigate these things enough.”
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., was at the Butler rally the day Crooks fired at then-candidate Trump. He was the chairman of the House Task Force on the attempted assassination. Kelly said the FBI withheld crucial information and placed repeated roadblocks in the committee’s way.
The committee’s final report of findings wrote the DOJ and FBI “declined to address repeated requests to provide digital analysis from Crooks’ devices and online activity as well as other specific documentation repeatedly requested by the Task Force.”
“There are so many unanswered questions,” Kelly told the Post.
Kelly said the withheld online posts were only part of the problem. He pointed to the fact that Crooks’ body was cremated quickly and that blood at the shooting site had been cleaned before investigators could fully review it.
“We were stymied so much by the feds on what we could look at, what we couldn’t look at,” he said.
Straight Arrow News also reached out to the lead Democrat on the task force, Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado. We have not received a response as of publication.
Whistleblower claims
Crooks’ alleged social media activity shows a significant shift in his political viewpoints over time, based on posts and comments attributed to accounts using his name or email addresses reportedly linked to him. In 2019, the posts included inflammatory and violent statements about political opponents, Jewish people and Democratic lawmakers, as well as repeated references to using firearms or force in political contexts.
He also allegedly cited the Mao Zedong quote, “The only true political power comes from the barrel of a gun,” and frequently described hypothetical scenarios involving assault-style weapons.
By early 2020, however, his commentary appeared to shift, with posts criticizing Trump and suggesting he was “racist.” During the same period, his online search history — according to the Post’s sources — showed interest in high-profile acts of violence, including the Oklahoma City bombing, the Pulse nightclub shooting and the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby.
He also allegedly searched for information on how to fire an AR-15 “as fast as possible,” how to make a fertilizer bomb and a Molotov cocktail, and discussed “terrorism style tactics” in an online comment from August 2020.
“IMO the only way to fight the gov is with terrorism style attacks, sneak a bomb into an essential building and set it off before anyone sees you, track down any important people/politicians/military leaders etc and try to assassinate them,” he wrote, according to the whistleblower.
FBI response
The FBI has not commented directly to media outlets since the whistleblower’s allegations surfaced in the news. However, the agency did respond to an X post from conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson.
Carlson, who received similar information and screenshots from a whistleblower before the New York Post story, alleged the bureau “lied” about Crooks’ seemingly nonexistent digital footprint and teased a story revealing the posts in his possession. The FBI responded, posting on X, “This FBI has never said Thomas Crooks had no online footprint. Ever.”
FBI Director Kash Patel also made an X post regarding the Crooks case following Carlson’s report.
“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.”
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said both she and Trump believe the public deserves more answers in an interview with the Post’s Miranda Devine, who told Leavitt there were a lot of unanswered questions in the case.
“Those questions are definitely deserving of answers,” Leavitt said in an interview. “I understand why the public wants those answers, and I believe the president does too.”
