FBI Refutes Tucker Carlson Allegations About Attempted Trump Assassin

The FBI is attempting to beat back new scrutiny after conservative commentator Tucker Carlson accused the bureau of misleading the public about the digital trail of Thomas Crooks — the would-be assassin who attempted to kill President Donald J. Trump during a 2024 campaign rally. Carlson argued the FBI had falsely claimed Crooks had “no online footprint” and vowed to produce evidence proving the opposite, according to Newsweek.

But the FBI Rapid Response account on X fired back late this week. “This FBI has never said Thomas Crooks had no online footprint. Ever,” the account wrote — a firm denial that immediately fueled more questions than answers among critics already skeptical of the bureau’s transparency.

More than a year after the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt, the public still knows relatively little about Crooks, the 20-year-old shooter who climbed onto a rooftop overlooking Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle. He unleashed eight rounds, killing one attendee and injuring two others before grazing Trump’s ear. A Secret Service counter-sniper eliminated Crooks seconds later — an event that exposed devastating protective failures and ultimately forced the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

An independent review afterward concluded the agency needed “fundamental reform.”

Carlson escalated his claims Friday morning, posting a 35-minute investigative video on X at 8:00 a.m. ET — material he said the FBI “has worked hard to make sure you haven’t seen.” The footage included a clip Carlson said was pulled from Crooks’ Google Drive, showing the gunman dry-firing a weapon in a room adorned with paper targets.

The video also presented what Carlson described as Crooks’ online traces — including YouTube comments and a wide assortment of digital accounts that may have belonged to him. Using Crooks’ phone number, Carlson said a source uncovered a Gmail account, two additional email addresses, and profiles on Snapchat, Venmo, PayPal, Zelle, Discord, Google Play, Quizlet, Chess.com, and Quora.

Carlson said these accounts demonstrated a “robust online presence,” directly contradicting what he characterized as earlier claims by the FBI. He added that the bureau asked whether he had verified the accounts — a response he said was “confusing” because “the authenticity is self-evident.”

The FBI Rapid Response account, however, insisted Carlson was misrepresenting the record — noting that the bureau under its current leadership is not the same entity that operated during the Biden administration. The Rapid Response account itself was created in November 2025 and made its very first post on November 13.

It currently has roughly 22,500 followers, including FBI Director Kash Patel and numerous national journalists, suggesting it is both legitimate and newly operational.

Circulating online was a screenshot of what appeared to be a Community Note appended to the FBI’s reply, though the note has since vanished. The screenshot cited a July 2024 comment by former FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate — a statement that, even if accurate, would not contradict the Rapid Response account’s assertion that “this” FBI never made such a claim.

Carlson’s original charge was unequivocal. On November 13 he wrote: “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? Story tomorrow.”

The FBI Rapid Response account responded the next day: “This FBI has never said Thomas Crooks had no online footprint. Ever.”

The bureau’s rebuttal now appears to hinge on distinguishing itself from the leadership structure in place before 2025 — a distinction that critics argue sidesteps, rather than resolves, the core question of what the FBI actually claimed at the time of the attack.