One year after the shocking assassination attempt that bloodied then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and left a supporter dead, the now-president says he is “very satisfied” with the investigation—but critical questions remain unanswered.
The attempt on Trump’s life occurred on July 13, 2024, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, just days before the Republican National Convention. Trump had only been on stage for six minutes when gunfire cracked across the summer air. Secret Service agents rushed to shield and evacuate him as blood streamed down his face from a bullet that grazed his ear. Despite the chaos, Trump defiantly raised a fist and shouted “fight, fight, fight” to a stunned crowd.
The attacker, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was killed on the scene. One rallygoer—Corey Comperatore, a former volunteer fire chief—was fatally shot. Another was wounded.
In the aftermath, federal agencies including the FBI, Department of Justice, and Secret Service launched an intensive investigation, writes The Daily Caller, but several questions remain. Though officials have disclosed some findings, the public is left with glaring uncertainties: What motivated Crooks? How did a lone gunman gain rooftop access 400 feet from the stage? And have security protocols been meaningfully reformed?
Revelations have surfaced incrementally. Authorities say Crooks used a drone to survey the rally site and was flagged as suspicious by law enforcement moments before the attack. Investigators later discovered online search history linking Crooks to research on Lee Harvey Oswald and details about the Butler rally’s layout. Campaign finance records show Crooks donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project in 2021, though he was registered as a Republican—fueling speculation across ideological lines.
In March 2025, Trump voiced doubt about the official narrative, remarking, “I’m relying on my people to tell me what it is … The Secret Service, they tell me it’s fine. But it’s a little hard to believe.” His tone softened in a more recent interview with daughter-in-law Lara Trump, where he acknowledged failures but stopped short of casting blame. “They should have had somebody in the building [Crooks shot from], that was a mistake,” he said. “They should have had communications with the local police, they weren’t tied in, and they should have been tied in. So there were mistakes made … But I was satisfied in terms of the bigger plot, the larger plot, I was satisfied.”
TUNE IN: President @realDonaldTrump discusses the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in an exclusive interview with @LaraLeaTrump nearly one year later. Watch the full interview on @MyViewFNC, Saturday at 9 PM ET. pic.twitter.com/jYqdvwOiQ5
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 10, 2025
In response to the security breakdown, six Secret Service agents—both supervisory and field staff—were suspended without pay for between 10 and 42 days, according to multiple sources. They have since resumed work in restricted roles, as confirmed by Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn.
Last month, FBI Director Kash Patel vowed to release more details of the assassination attempt in an interview with Fox News.
“I don’t know that there’s more to know, but you’re going to know everything we know,” Patel told Baier on “Special Report.”
“We take assassination attempts, especially of the president of the United States, extremely seriously,” he said. “And we don’t feel that the American people have been given the information they need on that. And we’re digging through the files, and we’re getting them a more robust picture of what happened and whether or not there were any connections.”
Pressed by Baier on theories circulating online, from an inside attempt to sabotage Trump’s campaign to foreign interference, Patel dismissed the speculation outright.
“That’s a great example of people looking for things where things don’t exist,” he said.
He acknowledged that the death of the would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, allowed for more transparency than ongoing cases, such as the Merchant investigation in New York, and claimed that relevant disclosures had already been made public.
On October 5, 2024, Trump returned to Butler to finish the rally he never got to complete. But as the investigation presses on and doubts persist, the memory of that violent day continues to cast a long shadow.
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