Thomas Crooks nearly changed American history when he opened fire on President Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally in July 2024.
The FBI told Congress they couldn't find any online history pointing to the 20-year-old's motive.
But one FBI veteran just exposed the stunning truth about how the Bureau missed Thomas Crooks for years.
The FBI Ignored Years Of Warning Signs They Had Right In Front Of Them
Chris Swecker served 24 years at the Bureau, retiring as Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigative Division in 2006.
He didn't mince words when he told The New York Post that the FBI had "missed opportunities" to stop Crooks before the assassination attempt.
"It's clear that he was popping off on the social media sites and saying things that should have garnered attention," Swecker said.¹
Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino just concluded their investigation claiming Crooks acted alone with no motive.
480 FBI employees conducted over 1,000 interviews and reviewed nearly 500,000 digital files.
But last week, The Post did the FBI's job for them and uncovered Crooks' extensive digital footprint showing years of extremist posts and violent threats.
"That constitutes a miss on the part of the FBI," Swecker added, giving the Bureau's handling a "C- grade."²
Among Crooks' disturbing YouTube comments were violent threats targeting Jewish people, calls to murder Democrats, and statements that Squad members deserved to die.³
He openly discussed terrorism tactics, writing about bombing government buildings and assassinating political and military leaders before authorities could stop him.
All under his real name.
For five years.
Wray's FBI Buried Evidence That Didn't Fit Their Narrative
Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress after the July 13, 2024 attack that the Bureau found nothing in Crooks' online history pointing to motive or ideology.
That was a lie.
One week later, Deputy Director Paul Abbate testified that comments on Crooks' social media "appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes to espouse political violence."⁴
Notice what Abbate left out: Crooks started as a rabid Trump supporter in 2019, calling Trump "the literal definition of Patriotism."
By early 2020, he'd flipped and was attacking Trump, mocking his supporters as a "cult."
The FBI desperately wanted to pin Crooks as a far-right lone gunman.
When the facts told a different story, they buried them.
"There was a bias in the FBI towards right-wing extremists," Swecker explained. "And if there was a right-wing extremist ideology, that got surfaced real quick in any of these shootings. But if there was a left-wing extremist ideology driving it, it was glossed over."⁵
Conservatives have been saying this for years.
Turns out we were right.
This Isn't The First Time Wray's FBI Let Known Threats Slip Through
The Parkland shooter?
The FBI received multiple tips about Nikolas Cruz before he murdered 17 people.
They did nothing.
The Pulse nightclub shooter's father was an FBI informant.
The Boston Marathon bombers were on the FBI's radar.
The pattern is clear: the FBI keeps missing obvious threats while they're busy investigating parents at school board meetings and Catholics who attend Latin Mass.
Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Pat Fallon (R-TX) accused Wray of "stonewalling" the investigation into Crooks.
Swecker urged Director Kash Patel to release all files related to Crooks immediately.
"They ought to come out with the full motivation – that's not classified – and then let's get it out there," he said.⁶
The FBI's secrecy isn't protecting national security.
It's protecting their own incompetence.
Wray's Failures Just Handed Our Enemies A Playbook
Crooks' trajectory from normal kid to would-be assassin just showed Russia, China, and Iran exactly how to weaponize our youth.
"The scariest thing about The Post's article was the thought that a hostile foreign intelligence service or an enemy out there could be looking for guys like Crooks and grooming them and weaponizing them," Swecker explained.⁷
ISIS already mastered online radicalization.
"We know ISIS has done that, and they've done it effectively. They've radicalized people on the internet," he added. "Why wouldn't Russia or China or Iran or any of our enemies do just the same thing?"⁸
Under Wray's leadership, the FBI was too busy targeting Trump supporters to notice actual terrorists posting death threats under their real names.
Swecker urged Americans to report genuine threats: "If you know somebody who says 'I'm going to kill the President,' pass that on."⁹
Because apparently the FBI won't catch them on their own.
Crooks posted public death threats for five years.
One of the FBI's own veterans gave their investigation a C- grade.
And now our enemies know they can radicalize American kids right under the Bureau's nose.
That's not a conspiracy theory anymore.
That's just what happened.
¹ Anthony Blair, "FBI missed multiple opportunities to stop Thomas Crooks before he tried to assassinate Trump, ex-assistant director fumes," New York Post, November 23, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Ibid.
