Trump Alleges Democrats Mishandled Assassination Attempt Probe

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump has accused Democrats of deliberately mishandling the FBI investigation into the July 2024 assassination attempt against him, describing it as a “Democrat plot” aimed at preventing him from winning a second term.

Trump also referred to newly surfaced information in the case but did not provide details.

Trump, then the Republican presidential candidate, narrowly survived the July 2024 shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when 20-year-old Thomas M. Crooks opened fire from a rooftop. A rally attendee was killed, two others were injured, and Trump was grazed in the ear. Crooks was killed by the Secret Service, while a later internal review found multiple failures by the agency ahead of the attack.

At the time, Trump blamed then-President Joe Biden and Democratic rival Kamala Harris, arguing that their policies had made it harder for the Secret Service to protect him and that their rhetoric may have encouraged the shooter.

In a Tuesday post on Truth Social, Trump accused the FBI under Biden of failing to properly investigate Crooks and claimed that much of the case’s information was “missing, altered, corrupted, or gone” when he took office in January 2025.

He also blamed former FBI Director Christopher Wray, saying Wray should “pay a price” for his handling of the investigation and his public statements about the attack.

Wray, who was nominated by Trump during his first term, previously told the House Judiciary Committee that the FBI had found no accomplices. He also said investigators could not determine whether Trump had been struck directly by a bullet or by shrapnel, drawing criticism from Trump. Wray resigned before Trump’s January 2025 inauguration.

Meanwhile, current FBI Director Kash Patel told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that investigators had examined whether Crooks had accomplices but found no evidence of one.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said during the hearing that investigators had recently obtained new information about Crooks, including details about his background and history, without elaborating.

Trump has faced several assassination attempts. Two months after the Butler shooting, a pro-Ukraine activist was arrested after being found with a rifle near Trump’s Florida golf course and was later convicted of attempting to assassinate him.

In April 2026, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were evacuated from the Washington Hilton after gunfire erupted during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, was subsequently charged with attempting to assassinate the president.