Tucker Carlson has revealed that the young man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year had a long record of espousing political violence.
Comments posted by shooter Thomas Crooks to YouTube from 2019 to 2020 show a detailed digital trail of violent threats that included calls for assassination and political violence, despite the FBI’s repeated claims otherwise, according to a mini-documentary Carlson released Friday morning.
The online posts were made by Crooks when he was between 15 and 17 years old, Carlson’s expose claims – over three years before he shot at Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last July.
The deep-dive investigation from the former Fox News stemmed from a tip he said he received from an anonymous source who had gained access to Crooks’ wiped social media accounts.
The posts reveal Crooks to be a Trump supporter whose views on the president moved to the radical left during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The FBI lied about that fact, Carlson claims, noting that Crooks has since been framed by the agency as right wing in what little information had been released about him.
Carlson also pointed to an exchange he said Crooks had with a person affiliated with a Swedish far-right organization designated by the US as a terrorist group, after which his posts stopped and his digital footprint disappeared.
The YouTube user, named Willy_Tepes, appeared to start pressuring Crooks to commit violence at this stage.
Comments posted by Thomas Crooks to YouTube from 2019 to 2020 show a detailed digital trail of violent threats that included calls for assassination and political violence, despite the FBI’s repeated claims otherwise, according to mini-documentary released by Tucker Carlson
The deep-dive from the former Fox News stemmed from a tip he received from an anonymous source who he said gained access to Crooks’ wiped social media accounts
The user wrote in a reply to Crooks in August 2020: ‘If a gun and a badge is all that is needed, then authority obviously comes from the barrel of a gun. We have more guns than they do 😉
‘There is no way we can avoid a war at this point, so you just better get used to the idea.’
In another reply, the user wrote: ‘I can’t really see any downside to people who are sitting on a [sic] armory of guns.
‘The more guns that are out there, the less likely a gun confiscation will be possible. Nope, guns do not guarantee a victory anymore than jet fighters, tanks and drones do. It is the fighting spirit and brains that wins.
‘We have nothing to lose and everything to win…..and the alternative, a global police state, is unacceptable. Nothing in life is simple but that is no argument against doing it :)’
Crooks posts on YouTube subsequently stopped.
Carlson’s 34-minute doc also includes a never-before-seen clip from Crooks’ Google Drive account if him dry firing a handgun in his bedroom in suburban Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Carlson said his source retrieved a never-before-seen clip from Crooks’ Google Drive account that shows him dry firing a handgun in a bedroom
‘The key lead was Thomas Crooks’ phone number,’ Carlson says, pointing to a Pennsylvania phone number published in documents obtained by America First Legal.
The number led Carlson’s source to Crooks’ Gmail account, which was linked to Crooks’ YouTube account, a Snapchat, and several accounts containing some variation of his name.
All of Crooks’ accounts appeared to have been deactivated and fully taken out of use after the shooting, but Carlson’s source was able to obtain all data from the YouTube account linked to Crooks’ phone number.
The data includes the users’ search history, watch history, and 737 public comments that have seemingly vanished, the documentary states.
Aside from the video evidence and phone number tying Crooks to the YouTube account, Carlson points to the day the account was suspended to support the authenticity of his findings: July 14, 2024, the day after the shooting.
According to Carlson, some of Crooks’ comments are still available on internet archive sites. A click on one of those tagged comments brings a user to a page that says ‘this channel was removed because it violated our Community Guidelines,’ the documentary stated.
In July 2019, in response to an MSNBC video on YouTube, Crooks wrote: ‘Illhan Omar and others are invaders and should honestly be killed and their dead bodies sent back.”‘
The next day, Crooks commented on a CNN video that sought to fact-check Trump: ‘If youre [sic] saying trump is a bad president you arent [sic] a patriot as trump is the literal definition of Patriotism.’
Crooks was killed by Secret Service agents after his attempted assassination of President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania
The same day, on a separate MSNBC video, Crooks wrote: ‘Ive noticed a lot of liers [sic] talking about the truth in this post.
‘Well let me tell you some truth. Everyone of the Trump hating democrats deserve to have their heads chopped of [sic] and put on steaks [sic] for the world to see what happens when you fuck with America.’
On another MSNBC clip, Crooks wrote: ‘I hope a quick and painful death to all the deplorable immigrants and anti-trump congresswoman who dont deserve anything this contru [sic] has given them.’
Similar comments continued for months, with Carlson calling them ‘increasingly violent.’
Crooks responded to a CBS Evening News video about the Democratic congresswomen known as ‘The Squad,’ saying: ‘This is going to be blatantly racist but I hope trump has these people murdered.’
In September 2019, Crooks openly called for a dictatorship.
‘With the way this country has been going I think we need the dictator to at least get rid of the progressives. And than [sic] maybe put these hispanics back in their place,’ he wrote in response to a Bloomberg Television video about Trump facing criticism from political opponents during his impeachment.
On the same video, Crooks commented: ‘Let me put it this way if any of the democratic candidates win. They wont be in there for long. Because unlike the dems we have guns and lots of them.’
A still of Thomas Crooks from Tucker Carlson’s expose
On another Bloomberg video on the same subject on September 26, 2019 at 6:12pm, Crooks wrote, ‘If the losing republicans have dont like it[sic] they hold all the fire power. 50 million americans with ar 15s will make quick work of any blockades the gov. can put to protect the white house’.
He also left multiple reference to Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, including a September 30, 2019, 7:42pm post on a WP video showing Trump warning that ‘his impeachment could lead to Civil War’ with the following quote from the far-left leader: ‘The only real political power comes from the barrel of a gun’.
On September 30, 2019, in response to the same WP video, Crooks wrote as others discussed a potential civil war: ‘most rioters dont[sic] bring assault rifles and body armor like we would. And we wouldnt[sic] be going to the streets wed be going to washington’.
At this point, one user, named “Hyperpandas”, responded, writing, ‘law enforcement will thank you for grouping up and being so visible. It’ll make your arrest so much simpler’.
Crooks responded, saying, ‘cops cant arrest me if they are all dead.’
Crooks also spoke of how little skill it takes to handle a firearm, writing at one point, ‘You think adam lanza or any school shooter trained. Nope.’
Several of these videos still contain contextual comments with people referring to Crooks.
On the WP civil war video, a commenter wrote to the alleged assassin: ‘You are on YT threatening to shoot government officials. I sure hope the FBI is monitoring social media for violent nutcases. Trump’s cult is literally insane.’
Trump narrowly missed death in the assassination attempt
On July 24, 2019, at 9:26pm, on a CNN video about Trump criticizing Robert Mueller after his impeachment hearings, ‘Mueller should be hanged along with the rest of the democrats involved in that whitch[sic] hunt’
On October 28, 2019 at 6:28pm, Crooks wrote on video from The Damage Report with John Iadarola: ‘I always believed being patriotic was lining up a bunch of socialist jews (like the ones that booed Trump) and blasting their useless brains out with an AR. Well to each his own’.
Then, in early 2020, to tone of Crooks’ comment began to change radically – to the radical left.
On November 23, 2019, Crooks wrote in response to WP opinion video that sought to explain why Trump did ‘not have to commit a crime to be impeached’: ‘I disagree, I can see many people getting away with what Trump has done.
‘Billionaires, Long time senators, governors, or really anybody related to powerful people or politucal[sic] parties, sure being president makes it even easier, byt[sic] also keep in mind the only reason we may know about this us[sic] because of trumps[sic] stupidity.
‘I mean he is not really good at hiding things and I am willing to bet thus[sic] sort of conduct happens quite a bit and nobody finds out.’
He also began to mock the concept of the deep state – in a February 26, 2020, comment on a Sky News video of Trump using the term, he wrote: ‘The deep state is simply made up of anybody who disagrees with the right wing. Conversation over’
The same day, in a comment on the same video at 4:46pm, Crooks wrote to Trump supporters: ‘You really believe that shit. How can you people call others sheep, but you are do[sic] brainwashed to realize how dumb you are.
A photo of Crooks from his yearbook
Other commenters often replied to the person purported to be Crooks’ radical views
‘If someone told you chine people dissended[sic] from aliens and than[sic] put the fake archeaologist[sic] who found out on air as ‘evidence’ you’d beleive[sic] it. But somehow you guys have ‘woken up’. I mean literally you guys sound like a cult at times.’
On the same video at 4:37pm, he wrote: ‘No im pretty sure people are just racist and Trump is one of them, there does not need to be a deep state for that.’
That April, during the peak phase of the COVID lockdowns, he wrote on a Fox News video that showed a WHO official warning officials ‘may have to enter homes and remove family members’ to prevent spreading the virus, Crooks wrote: ‘It seems that you people don’t understand that sometimes Public safety comes before your Personnel[sic] rights.
‘If someone in your family has Covid-19 why wouldn’t you want them quarentined?[sic] Are you really going to get in the way of trying to stop this pandemic on account of your phobia of government? Seriously what is wrong with you guys’
On the same video, Crooks wrote separately, ‘So a few things, more than 97-98% of people won’t get this due to the work of the CDC and WHO and if people like you made the decisions just about everyone would get this.
‘Secondly you left out yhe[sic] part where if your wife gets the “cold” you and your kids will also get it. Are you not concerned about that? Are you not willing to quarentine[sic] one member of your family to save the rest? If so you are not a patriot and you aren’t protecting anything.’
By this time, Crooks had become very critical of conservative media, Carlson notes.
In reply to an NBC Nightly News video about anti-lockdown protests in April 2020, Crooks wrote: ‘Well actually South Korea and Japan closed down first so again that’s wrong. Also LA and other plasses[sic] in California acted faster than him. Hospitals in Louissianna[sic] and NY still aren’t completely caught up.
Another still of Crooks from Tucker Carlson’s mini-documentary
‘And going to a chinese new years party in america isn’t putting you at risk for corona virus[sic] cause beleive[sic] it or not viruses don’t spread through race like Tucker Carlson probably told you.’
On May 17, 2020, at 8:21pm, Crooks wrote that ‘yes there is cheating in elections but to claim only one party does it, and to claim it is the only reason they ever win is ignorant.’
In August 2020, in a comment to a video about California’s bill ‘AB 2847’, Crooks wrote, ‘Perhaps but Trump won in an upset victory in 2016 and could do the same again, either way I beleive[sic] the outcome will be irrelevant.’
In another comment to the same video, Crooks wrote: ‘Ok I highly doubt a tow[sic] missile launcher isn’t going to work because its[sic] raining and the drones available to civilians arent[sic] capable of killing you.
‘And even is you are right and SOME of the militaries weapons cant be used in rain or snow, etc how does that really matter, I can garuntee[sic] you aren’t going to win a war by only fighting in bad weather.
‘IMO they[sic] only way to fight the gov is with terrorism style attacks, sneak a bomb into an essential building a[sic] set it off before anyone sees you, track down any important people/politicians/military leaders etc and try to assasinate[sic] them.
‘Any sort of head to head fight is suicide and even ambush/surprise attacks likely aren’t going to end well, a large portion of the war will also be propaganda/information wars, both sides will want people to join them and a big deciding factor in wars is often which side has more popular support for them.
‘But these are all just my speculations and its hard to know how a war will actually go.’
Carlson called these comments notable because they came during the final phase of Crooks’ YouTube commenting – a point at which Crooks was ‘ripe for recruitment by someone,’ Carlson notes.
Days after the shooting, a screenshot was taken of Tepes’ YouTube page, despite the fact he had very few followers, Carlson points out in the special.
Tepes’s name can be found on a foreign website that links him to the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), Carlson claimed.
The far-right group has been designated a terrorist group by the US State Department.
Carlson claims that the FBI knew Crooks existed due to these posts and the bureau at the time issuing contracts to private tech surveillance firms to harness the power of mass data collection tools that would monitor social media posts from people like Crooks.
On July 30, 2024, a little more than two weeks after the attack, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN that ‘federal investigators are looking into a YouTube account possibly connected to Crooks in which the user espoused political violence as well as antisemitic and anti-immigration themes.’
The same day, the FBI’s deputy director, Paul Abbate, made the same claim about Crooks’s posts before Congress, framing the person who posted them as far-right and antisemitic, with no mention of any shift in ideals.
In February of this year, sources told The New York Post that the FBI has ‘obstructed efforts to solve the mystery of why Thomas Matthew Crooks… did what he did.’
Crooks left no manifesto, the report notes.
‘It’s left local law enforcement as well as Crooks’ former friends, classmates and teachers frustrated,’ the Post report reads.
Another notable detail Carlson flagged in the special were photos from the day after the shooting showing an FBI agent hosing down the site where Crooks died.
Photos from the day after the shooting show an FBI agent hosing down the site where Crooks died
Tepes’s name can be found on a foreign website that links him to the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), Carlson claimed
High level intelligence officials and Congressional sources told Carlson’s team that an agent hosing down the site was ‘very strange’. The FBI usually hires out crime scene cleanup to third-party contractors.
In the photo in question, the agent’s shirt indicates he from the ‘Technical Hazards Response Unit’, Carlson points out. The unit typically collects traditional forensic evidence contaminated with hazardous materials.
Carlson also points out in the special how after the shooting, the FBI collected all relevant surveillance footage to the investigation, including video from where the gun range where Crooks trained – Clairton Sportsmen’s Club.
The FBI has continued to refuse to release the footage, which they confirmed exists.
All of the social media accounts that hosted Crooks’ comments took his accounts offline within a day of the assassination attempt.
In some cases, the comments recorded in the internet archive were also erased, Carlson says.
Crooks was also able to conduct surveillance at the rally site in Butler by flying his drone over it for 11 minutes, officials already confirmed.
In the episode, Carlson produces records showing how the Secret Service’s anti drone system – cUAS – was seemingly down at exactly the time the drone was in the air, at around 11:30am/
Carlson then points to chat logs from police officers who saw Crooks loitering at the site with a backpack and a range finder. They identified him as a ‘suspicious person’ before losing track of him, Carlson said.
The building Crooks went on to scale, The American Glass Research Building, was the only building in the area that did not have a video surveillance system, Carlson also notes.
The building Crooks went on to scale, The American Glass Research Building, was the only building in the area that did not have a video surveillance system, Carlson points out in the special
The building was also outside the Secret Service’s security perimeter.
Two local police officers assigned to the stage actually saw Crooks but didn’t report him, Carlson adds. A third officer scheduled to be there left early, he says.
Carlson notes how after the shooting, the media went on to use the shooting to serve its own political agendas. On ABC, Carlson notes, The View’s Ana Navarro said the shooting was the result of a ‘white wack job’ with easy access to a gun
Carlson also flagged claims from US officials after the attempt framing it as a potential Iranian plot to kill Trump, without any evidence.
Carlson suggests this is convenient for a country planning a ‘regime-change war against Iran’.
Carlson adds it’s hard to believe that Crooks, whose accounts identified him by name, was not being monitored by law enforcement at the time.
‘In fact, it’s impossible to imagine,’ he says.
Carlson concluded by asking whether Crooks was known to law enforcement, and the same for ‘Willy Tepes.’
‘Is Willy Tepes linked to any violent organizations? If so, at the time of the shooting, did the FBI have assets inside these organizations?’ Carlson asks.
The episode earned a response from FBI Director Patel on Friday.
He wrote in a post to his official X page: The FBI’s investigation into Thomas Crooks identified and examined over 20 online accounts, data extracted from over a dozen electronic devices, examination of numerous financial accounts, and over 1,000 interviews and 2000 public tips.
‘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.’
