Lessons from Butler
Judicial Watch received the first official records in their lawsuit about the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The information is important and timely.
As we all analyze what is going on right now in Tucson with Nancy Guthrie’s abduction and the seemingly incompetence of the local Pima County Sheriff, there are enough discrepancies here from the “official” report we were given on Butler that I thought it was worth sharing:
One interview in Butler points to the strong possibility of the real shots coming from the two open windows adjacent to the AGR building below where Crooks was killed on the roof. The document also confirms that all law enforcement on that day were aware of Crooks well in advance, that 2 witnesses told them that there was also a car that sped away after the shooting - driven by an older white male, there appeared to be an unofficial uniformed officer on the scene, the FBI had no clue as to Crooks’ motive and that he was recently in the hospital.
These documents raise troubling new questions about the Secret Service failures to protect President Trump. And it shouldn’t have taken years and a federal lawsuit to get this basic material about the near assassination of President Trump.
Judicial Watch forced the release of the 37 heavily redacted pages from the FBI through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.
Judicial Watch filed the July 2025 lawsuit after the FBI failed to respond to a July 2024 FOIA request under Biden. They asked for all records related to Thomas Matthew Crooks, born September 20, 2003 in Butler Township, PA and died on July 13, 2024, who allegedly attempted the assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024.
The records include a July 16, 2024, “FD-302” investigative report that states that on the day of the shooting:
Prior to the start of the shooting, law enforcement [redacted] received reports over the radio about an unknown male acting suspiciously. The unknown male had bags and was wearing a gray T-shirt with “Demolition Ranch” written on the front of it.
Several operators were communicating information about the unknown male back and forth over the radio - including to/from Command, to the Secret Service, to Pennsylvania State Police, to “everybody.”
A July 15 electronic communication that launched the FBI investigation of Thomas Crooks notes that one purpose of the investigation, given that Crooks himself was killed by Secret Service agents, was to determine “the subject’s motivation and to identify if there were any co-conspirators.”
A July 14 investigative report describes an event before the shooting. An unidentified acquaintance of Thomas Crooks and his family indicated that sometime between May and June 2024 Crooks “was dehydrated and needed to be taken to the hospital.” It continued, “[Redacted] stated that she thought it was strange that [redacted] did not take him to the hospital themselves.”
A July 16 electronic communication states that the FBI returned a flip phone seized as evidence in their investigation of Crooks: “Lead is fully covered.”
A July 16 report notes that a person who was apparently a neighbor, described the Crooks family as “normal, nice people” and that Crooks “seemed like a normal dorky kid.”
A July 16 electronic communication details that, acting on a tip, the FBI found a “concerning” Facebook post applauding Crooks’ attempted assassination of Trump:
Facebook “Damn, bad shot. Would have done the world a service” and another comment on the original post “We should have watched [Trump’s] fucking brains blown away.”
A July 16 interview report states that investigators talked with an individual who had attended the Butler rally:
[Redacted] recalled that approximately 5 minutes after the shots were fired, a light silver Subaru Hatchback sped past her and almost struck her. [Redacted] didn't remember the vehicle having any stickers or distinct markings.
[Redacted] didn't get a look at the license plate, but believed the driver to be an older white male with short hair and tan skin. [Redacted] saw the Subaru in the parking lot near houses, specifically a brown house with a pool. The vehicle departed the parking lot making a sharp right turn near the old buildings.
[Redacted] was with [redacted] in the parking lot and observed the vehicle too.
[Redacted] described the vehicle as a 2017 silver Subaru Forester…. [Redacted] noted the terrain was too rough to drive at the rate of speed the Subaru was doing.
A July 16 interview report details the observations of a member of the Saxonburg Police Department who was also a member of the Butler Emergency Services Unit:
[Redacted] was on the counter assault team. His position was in the turret inside the armor vehicle next to the barns behind the stage. [Redacted] stated sniper teams called out and sent photos of a suspicious person with a range finder. [Redacted] stated he watched a guy fitting the description walking from the water tower to the stage area and out of view. He did not see anything on the individual.
[Redacted] rode in the armor behind the tents near the stage, but did not ever have a view of the roof where the shooter was. [Redacted] ran out of the armor vehicle with a ladder to AGR and was told they didn't need any more guys on the roof. So he came back and held security for a medic working on the deceased individual. The Secret Service then took over the tent.
In a July 16 interview summary of an individual who had attended the Butler rally:
[S]he noticed a white male with dark hair interacting with a uniformed law enforcement officer. They both were seen looking at two open windows of the property/building adjacent to the AGR Building. The white male told the officer that those windows were not supposed to be open. [Redacted] saw the windows that appeared to be opened from the inside. As the officer walked around towards the other side of the building, the white male stood on the side where the windows were facing towards the event/stage.
Shortly thereafter, at approximately some time after 6PM, she heard another white male yell the following, “He’s got a gun, everybody run!” This white male appeared to be in his late [redacted] who was seen wearing a white shirt, who had dark colored hair and a [redacted]. After he yelled, [redacted] heard six gunshots that sounded like they came from the two open windows.
She recalled seeing a law enforcement officer wearing a brown/tan uniform but she did not see the patch.
Remember, the narrative we were told about Butler is that a 20-year old kid named Crooks, who was formerly in a Blackrock commercial in high school and just got out of the hospital, somehow got into the rally undetected, used a drone and rangefinder to scope out the sight undetected, climbed up on the closest roof, with police officers inside, to assassinate Trump and got off 8 bullets before the Secret Service was able to take him down - while people were pointing at him. Right.
The official documents totally dispute that theory.
Instead, witnesses told the FBI they heard the shots coming from open windows BELOW where Crooks was positioned on the roof - which were NOT supposed to be open - and there was a suspicious person who sped off right after the shooting.
There were “occupied” windows in the buildings below Crooks - we know that for sure. If someone was shooting from there it would be from the same DIRECTION as Crooks. Plain clothes agents were on the ground clearing people away from these windows BEFORE the shooting - and local law enforcement were monitoring suspicious persons in this area - yet they still didn’t tell Trump to get OFF the stage? There is video of that from a rally goer whose phone was confiscated by Biden’s FBI for 6 days and never mentioned again. Hmm.
That’s why I question EVERYTHING we are told by Democrat law enforcement in blue cities - that includes Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Pittsburg, Ft. Lauderdale and many other blue cities where tragic and mass casualty events have happened. Chances are - what they tell us is NOT what really happened.
These official records received by Judicial Watch are consistent with my in-depth reporting on Trump’s assassination attempt in Butler in July 2024 - about the Secret Service and the open windows where snipers were housed below where Crooks was killed. There are way too many discrepancies between what we were told and what actually happened to believe the official story line.
To that end, we all still have questions about what really happened to JFK in 1963 and if Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy - but most of us were NOT around to witness that.
We can’t go back and relive that event and examine the reporting in real time to see the lies. But, we could do that in the Butler case and we CAN do that today in the Guthrie case to actually see that we are told is NOT what actually happened! That’s the lesson! That’s the blessing!
The keystone cops always trot out a patsy in short order to appease the public and cement the official narrative.
The Pima County Sheriff, Chris Nanos, said today, after last night's major SWAT excursion, that nobody was arrested and there's nothing new to report. Hmm.
Four people were “detained” and at least one was in handcuffs. That's quite a bit of action on a Friday night to yield nothing - don't you think? This tells me that Democrat Sheriff Nanos is doing this for the cameras and to make it look like he's doing something - and he has no intention of solving the case. What are Chris Nanos and Mark Kelly hiding and who are they covering for?
Democrat Sheriff Nanos went on to tell the New York Times that's he's exhausted and it could take his team weeks or months or years to find Nancy.
Hmm. I think it's time for Nanos to officially turn the investigation over to the FBI. The Guthries have already told Nanos they don't want his help. The FBI is the only agency that has produced any leads so far. Nanos has been worthless. On purpose? That's my guess. Now he's out looking for a patsy to make himself a hero.
What should we take away from the case? The lessons we learned from JFK and Butler.
They aren’t able to just name a patsy so easily in the Guthrie case since we are ALL watching. Keep watching!
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