The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was forced to release heavily redacted documents that revealed Thomas Matthew Crooks, one of President Donald Trump’s would-be assassins, had exchanged emails with a Butler County Sheriff’s deputy prior to his attack on July 13, 2024.
Judicial Watch forced the FBI to make dozens of documents public through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, revealing that the deputy exchanged two emails with Crooks before the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. The heavily redacted document was part of an FBI electronic communication titled “Disc of 5 Deputies of Butler County Sheriff’s Office” conducted on July 16, 2024, which compiles interviews the bureau conducted with deputies. (RELATED: REPORT: Disgusting Last Internet Search Of Thomas Matthew Crooks Before Trump Shooting Revealed)
The file indicates that a deputy had “checked her emails and records and only had two email communications” from Crooks. The nature of the communication was redacted, and the unnamed deputy said she had not had any “personal interaction” with Crooks.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 22: Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) gestures to a photograph of the building where Thomas Matthew Crooks fired on former President Donald Trump as United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on July 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. The beleaguered leader of the United States Secret Service has vowed cooperation with all investigations into the agency following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Another document released said a first responder told the FBI that she observed a SWAT officer recover a “remote device” and a cell phone from Crooks’ pocket after he was shot dead. (RELATED: Tucker Carlson Alleges Trump’s Would-Be Assassin Thomas Crooks Morphed From Die-Hard Supporter To Wanting Him Dead)
“The Washington County SWAT officer checked the shooter’s right pocket and discovered a gray remote device with numerical push buttons and an antenna and a cell phone,” the document reads.
The first responder also said she remembers being told there was a ” canine hit on the building beneath” the building Crooks was shooting from. They were evacuated while Crooks’ body remained on the roof.