Tucker Carlson accused the FBI on Thursday of orchestrating a cover-up over the online history of President Donald Trump shooter Thomas Crooks, prompting the bureau to publicly and aggressively deny it.
The clash immediately escalated into a high-profile, social media-fueled battle of words.
Carlson wrote on X, “The FBI told us Thomas Crooks tried to kill Donald Trump last summer but somehow had no online footprint. The FBI lied, and we can prove it … Story tomorrow.”
About 50 minutes later, the FBI’s Rapid Response X account pushed back with a pointed rebuttal: “This FBI has never said Thomas Crooks had no online footprint. Ever.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., praised Carlson, writing, “Americans are the most lied to people in the world … Thank you Tucker.”
Talk radio host Mark Levin dismissed him outright, writing on X, “There he goes, again. Crackpot.”
Carlson’s charge of a cover-up comes as he faces severe and mounting backlash from conservatives for his embrace of white nationalist, Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes and as the Heritage Foundation continues to hemorrhage donors, trustees, and members over its sponsorship of his show.
His accusation also directly contradicts the FBI’s documented findings about 20-year-old Crooks’ digital activity, which have been public for months.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate testified that investigators found a dormant social media account Crooks used from 2019 to 2020 containing about 700 comments tied to extremist themes, including antisemitic posts, anti-immigration rhetoric, and language endorsing political violence.
The bureau also uncovered Crooks’ rapid escalation in internet searches ahead of the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt at presidential candidate Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
While a bullet grazed Trump’s ear and two other rallygoers, volunteer fire chief Corey Comperator, 50, an attendee, was killed. Crooks was killed by officers.
Investigators say Crooks researched explosives, Trump’s event schedule, and the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, including the query, “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?”
These findings are reinforced by CBS News, which obtained nearly a year of Crooks’ online activity through his college’s wireless network.
CBS documented hundreds of visits to news sites, weapons forums, gaming platforms, encrypted services, social media, and academic accounts — evidence of a substantial and traceable online footprint.
Two days in particular stood out in the CBS analysis.
On Dec. 6, 2023, he browsed the White House archives from Trump’s first administration before moving to firearms websites and news outlets; on Jan. 24, 2024, he racked up 1,364 internet requests and began consistently using a VPN afterward.
NBC News separately found that Crooks’ interest in weapons spiked in the final year of his life.
He bought a rifle from his father in 2023, joined the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, and visited the rifle range more than 40 times while steadily expanding his use of encryption tools to obscure his activity.
These investigative records stand in direct contradiction to Carlson’s claim that the FBI suggested Crooks “had no online footprint.”
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