FBI Documents Show Shooter Practiced 100-Yard Shot Before Butler Attempt

FBI interview records show Thomas Crooks bought rifle parts online under the name 'Bob Dole' and displayed years of increasingly isolated behavior before his July 13, 2024 assassination attempt against Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

• Crooks ordered rifle parts, tools, and capacity-increasing items via Amazon under the 'Bob Dole' alias.
• 4 to 5 years of practice preceded Crooks hitting targets beyond 100 yards, his father told investigators.
• Crooks scored 1,500 on the SAT and once donated $15 to a Democratic-aligned political group.
• An anonymous donor paid for Crooks' cremation after he was shot dead at the scene.

Why it matters: The documents are the most detailed public accounting yet of Crooks' background and the path to the attack. They were provided to Grassley's committee and reviewed by the New York Post.

• Father Matthew Crooks gave his son the Panther Arms A-15 rifle the morning of the rally, believing Thomas was going to a shooting range.
• Matthew Crooks told investigators his son 'never showed any signs indicating something was wrong' before the attack.

How 40 sources split on this story

Where they split: Coverage does not split on the facts; all outlets draw from the same FBI documents, with right-leaning outlets emphasizing security failures and left-leaning outlets foregrounding Crooks' unusual behavioral history.

What’s next: FBI Director Kash Patel is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee as the Grassley probe continues.

• Investigators found no foreign nexus for the attack after accessing all 35 of Crooks' digital accounts.
• No motive has been established; Matthew Crooks told investigators he could not identify why his son tried to kill Trump.
• The identity of the anonymous donor who paid for Crooks' cremation has not been disclosed.
• Whether any additional records beyond those provided to Grassley will be made public remains unclear.