The slow drip of data
Ever feel like the government is lowkey gatekeeping the tea? That’s exactly what Judicial Watch President Thomas Fitton is claiming regarding the FBI’s handling of documents from the 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Fitton says the FBI is slow-walking the release of 75,000 pages of records related to the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks.
At the current rate, it would take the FBI 12 years to hand over everything. Fitton isn't having it, calling the timeline “obviously unacceptable” and warning that it’s giving off major cover-up vibes.
What’s in the files?
Judicial Watch sued the Department of Justice after a 2024 Freedom of Information Act request hit a wall. Now, the documents they have managed to pry loose are raising some serious questions.
One batch revealed that Crooks was sending mysterious, nonsensical texts to an unknown person in the months before the Butler, Pennsylvania rally. The recipient's name is redacted, and the messages—filled with gibberish and the word “red”—are definitely not normal. Fitton argues that the public interest in knowing who he was talking to massively outweighs any privacy concerns for the person on the other end of those texts.
The rally red flags
It’s not just the texts. Previous documents show that Crooks was acting erratically at the rally itself, even getting into a verbal argument with attendees right before he headed to the roof to open fire. “That just blows my mind,” Fitton said, questioning how the security situation escalated so quickly.
Why it matters
Transparency is the name of the game here. When a historic event like this happens, the public needs the full story—not a 12-year drip-feed of redacted files. For you, this means the questions surrounding the Secret Service’s failures and the shooter’s potential accomplices are going to stay front and center. Real talk: until the FBI speeds up the release, people are going to keep wondering what exactly they’re trying to hide.
