Full Breakdown
Judicial Watch Presses FBI Over Delayed Release of Butler Rally Shooting Files
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event
Judicial Watch President Thomas Fitton alleges that the FBI’s pace of releasing documents related to the 2024 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, will prevent timely public scrutiny. Fitton says the FBI estimates that reviewing the roughly 75,000 pages of material at a rate of 500 pages per month would require more than 12 years before the public could challenge any withheld information. “They are telling us that at current processing rates, the process will take 12 years. Under the FBI's timeline, we won't even be able to challenge what they withheld until 12 years from now. That is obviously unacceptable, and I would like to know what leadership at the FBI and DOJ think about that position,” — Thomas Fitton, judicial watch president
Background & Context
In May 2023 through January 2024, Thomas Matthew Crooks sent a series of brief, seemingly nonsensical text messages to an unidentified recipient while planning the attack. On the day of the rally, Crooks climbed onto the roof of the AGR International building and opened fire, killing two attendees and narrowly missing Trump. Earlier, Crooks engaged in a heated verbal exchange with rally-goers before ascending. Judicial Watch sued the Department of Justice in 2025 after the FBI rejected a July 2024 Freedom of Information Act request for records of the investigation. The lawsuit compelled the agency to release multiple batches of documents, the latest of which contain redacted references to Crooks’s texting partner. “We’re receiving these documents because they're part of the investigation, yet we’re not being told who he was talking to,” — Thomas Fitton, judicial watch president
Official Statements & Responses
Fitton argues that the public interest in understanding how a former president was nearly killed outweighs any privacy concerns for the unidentified correspondent. He contends that the FBI’s “typical approach to transparency” is insufficient, especially given the loss of two lives. “Thomas Crooks was behaving erratically in a very public way at the rally. This wasn't a case of someone furtively running around; he was getting into a verbal altercation with individuals about Trump and then immediately went up onto the roof. That just blows my mind,” — Thomas Fitton, judicial watch president
The FBI and U.S. Secret Service were contacted for comment; no response was provided in the source material.
Verbatim Quotes
- “They are telling us that at current processing rates, the process will take 12 years. Under the FBI's timeline, we won't even be able to challenge what they withheld until 12 years from now. That is obviously unacceptable, and I would like to know what leadership at the FBI and DOJ think about that position,” — Thomas Fitton, judicial watch president
- “We’re receiving these documents because they're part of the investigation, yet we’re not being told who he was talking to,” — Thomas Fitton, judicial watch president
- “Thomas Crooks was behaving erratically in a very public way at the rally. This wasn't a case of someone furtively running around; he was getting into a verbal altercation with individuals about Trump and then immediately went up onto the roof. That just blows my mind,” — Thomas Fitton, judicial watch president
