Federal documents recently released reveal that the Biden administration deliberately withheld critical details about an assassination attempt on Donald Trump from Congress for over two years—a breach of constitutional oversight mechanisms designed to hold government accountable.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley obtained newly unclassified FBI records through his ongoing investigation into the July 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania shooting. The documents expose a disturbing pattern: Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who opened fire on Trump at a campaign rally and was later fatally shot, had been searched for firearm prevention solutions by his father two months prior—yet House lawmakers overseeing the probe received zero information from federal authorities.
Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, chair of the House task force investigating the attack, stated that federal agencies promised to “handle their own investigation and circle back” but never provided updates. “So this is two years later,” Kelly told Fox News. “Nobody’s gotten back to us.”
Kelly confirmed the December 2024 report was largely constructed from local law enforcement sources because federal agencies contributed “hardly anything.” His office remained unaware that the FBI had even interviewed Crooks’ family—a detail that underscored a systemic barrier to transparency.
Local reporting indicates the FBI documented Crooks as having developed an obsession with firearms and long-distance shooting, describing him as “very smart but very isolated” with minimal emotional expression. The documents also reveal an anonymous donor paid for Crooks’ cremation days after the attack—a move that raised questions about evidence handling during Congress’s scramble for basic facts.
Sen. Josh Hawley noted: “Pretty much everything we know about this is from whistleblowers.” Kelly directly attributed the lack of access to information under the Biden administration, stating federal authorities “had no access to information” regarding the incident.
The situation echoes Hawley’s warning after his Butler visit days following the shooting: “We run the risk of it turning into a JFK situation where, all of these years later, we still don’t really know what happened.” Federal agencies’ deliberate withholding of oversight details has created a dangerous precedent—one that risks eroding public trust in institutions designed to protect democratic accountability.
