Corey Comperatore went to a Trump rally in Butler and never came home.
Two years later, the FBI is still sitting on 75,000 pages about the man who killed him.
What a federal court just forced the FBI to release about Thomas Crooks and the 48 hours before Butler raises questions the bureau never answered.
FBI Records Show Thomas Crooks at Anti-Trump Political Event Two Days before the Butler Assassination Attempt
Judicial Watch sued the FBI in July 2025 after the bureau stonewalled a FOIA request for records related to the shooting. It took a federal court order to get anything out of them.
The latest production – 255 pages, the largest batch yet – landed this week.
Buried inside is a July 17, 2024, FBI interview report describing a teenager who spotted Thomas Crooks in a parking lot on July 11, two days before the assassination attempt. Crooks was pulling signs from a vehicle at what the FBI's own memo calls "a peaceful democratic political event."
The teenager told agents he believed the signs carried a "Keep Trump Out of Office" message.
A second witness – someone who knew Crooks personally from high school – also placed him at that same July 11 event. This witness was working the event himself and encountered Crooks near the parking lot. According to FBI records, Crooks appeared "energetic and excited" during the interaction.
Neither witness connected Crooks to the shooting until his face was everywhere on the news.
Judicial Watch FOIA Lawsuit Forces FBI to Release 255 Pages on Thomas Crooks and the Butler Shooting
The new records also confirm Crooks was 3D printing Glock frames – the first time that detail has appeared in any released document, though it has been known for years that Crooks owned a 3D printer.
The day before the shooting, July 12, Crooks visited the Clairton Sportsmen Club rifle range. FBI records describe the interaction he had there as innocuous small talk. Investigators found no evidence he tipped his hand to anyone.
The batch also adds detail to Crooks's May 2024 hospitalization. A neighbor recalled seeing an ambulance at the Crooks home late at night. Crooks was gone for roughly two weeks. When he returned, he told the neighbor he had been hospitalized for dehydration.
Every single page of these records had to be extracted through litigation.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said: "The American people deserve full transparency about Thomas Crooks, his contacts, and why key details about this case remain hidden."
At the current pace – a few hundred pages reviewed per month – the full 75,000-page file will take decades to release.
The Pattern Is Clearer Now Than the FBI Is Admitting
The sequential FOIA releases tell a story the FBI never summarized:
February 2026 – Law enforcement broadcast radio warnings about an "unknown male acting suspiciously" before Crooks fired. Those warnings never reached the agents protecting Trump.
April 2026 – Records revealed Crooks was in an altercation with Trump supporters at the rally site and was overheard making hateful comments about Trump in the minutes before he shot.
June 2026 – A SWAT officer recovered a gray remote device with an antenna from Crooks's pocket after he was killed on the roof.
August 2026 – Records now place Crooks at an anti-Trump political event 48 hours before the attempt, where he appeared "energetic and excited," pulling anti-Trump signs from a vehicle.
The FBI closed this investigation in November 2025 and declared it solved. Crooks acted alone, they said. No motive established. Case closed.
But the FBI's interview summary describes Crooks at an anti-Trump rally two days before he climbed a rooftop and nearly killed Trump as "energetic and excited."
No motive. Just a very energized young man pulling "Keep Trump Out of Office" signs from a truck 48 hours before he tried to do exactly that.
The FBI had 75,000 pages the whole time. They released none of it until a court made them.
That tells you everything you need to know about what else is in there.
Sources:
- Ken Silva, "Thomas Crooks Went to a Political Event Two Days before Butler Shooting, FBI Records Say," Headline USA, August 13, 2026.
- Tom Fitton, "Judicial Watch: FBI Records Reveal Altercation at Trump Rally Site before Shooting," Judicial Watch, April 17, 2026.
- Tom Fitton, "Judicial Watch: FBI Records Reveal Witness Account that SWAT Officer Recovered 'Remote Device' from Butler Shooter's Pocket," Judicial Watch, June 5, 2026.
- Tom Fitton, "Case Closed? Judicial Watch Investigates Butler Assassination Attempt," Judicial Watch, July 6, 2026.
- Tom Fitton, "Judicial Watch: New FBI Records Reveal Warnings about Suspicious Individual before Trump Shooting in Butler," Judicial Watch, February 2026.
