NEWLY RELEASED: FBI Records Released By Judicial Watch Show Butler Deputy Had Email Contact With Thomas Crooks Before Trump Rally Shooting. The Butler Story Just Got Stranger......
Butler County Sheriff’s deputy exchanged emails with Thomas Crooks before the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt against Donald Trump, according to documents obtained by the conservative Judicial Watch through a FOIA lawsuit.
A heavily redacted July 17, 2024, FBI electronic communication summarized interviews with five Butler County Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted July 16, 2024. In one summary, a deputy said she checked her emails after being contacted by a New York Times reporter and found two email communications from Crooks. The specific subject of the emails was redacted.
The newly released FBI records show the deputy told investigators she had two email communications with Crooks prior to the shooting. However, the FBI heavily redacted the records, leaving the subject of the emails and the nature of the interaction hidden from public view.
The watchdog group said it obtained 48 heavily redacted pages from the FBI that include interview summaries and investigative communications tied to Crooks and the Butler rally shooting. The records also state that after Crooks was killed, a SWAT officer found a gray remote device with numerical buttons, an antenna and a cellphone in Crooks’ pocket.
Judicial Watch filed its lawsuit in July 2025 after the FBI did not respond to a July 2024 FOIA request seeking records related to Crooks and the assassination attempt. The request sought investigative files, interview summaries, reports, communications, media, database records and any FBI communications involving personnel, sources, contractors or assets and Crooks himself. The case is titled Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice.
