Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday the FBI has uncovered new information about the man who attempted to assassinate President Trump at a July 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, though he did not disclose what was found.
He told reporters at a White House press conference on Sept. 15 that the information is new, relates to the shooter and his background and history, and covers things that were not known before.
His comments came hours after Trump posted on Truth Social claiming new information had been found about the assassination attempt and alleging the attack was a failed Democratic plot to remove him from the 2024 election. Congressional and law enforcement investigations into the shooting have found that the shooter acted alone. No evidence of a broader conspiracy has been presented by investigators.
In his Sept. 15 Truth Social post, Trump alleged that the FBI under the Biden administration had failed to properly preserve information related to the case and that much of it was missing, altered, corrupted or gone by the time he took office on Jan. 20.
What is known
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, fired from a rooftop at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on July 13, 2024. The bullet struck Trump’s right ear. A former fire chief and two other attendees were killed or wounded. Crooks was killed by Secret Service agents seconds after opening fire.
Investigations conducted by the FBI, the Secret Service and congressional committees identified significant security failures that allowed Crooks to reach the rooftop without detection. Investigators found he had acted alone and had no known connection to any organized group or political actor.
The new information
What was found was not disclosed. The attorney general said it is new information about the shooter and his background and history, without characterizing whether it changes the conclusions of prior investigations or adds context to what was already known.
Trump‘s Truth Social framing of the new findings as confirming a Democratic plot is not supported by any findings that investigators have made public, and the brief remarks at the press conference did not include that characterization.
What comes next
Whether the Justice Department will release the new information publicly or through congressional briefings was not announced. The FBI continues to be the primary investigative agency on matters related to the Butler shooting. The agency has not issued a statement directly addressing what Blanche described.
