FBI records obtained by Judicial Watch show that a Butler County sheriff’s deputy received emails from failed Trump assassin Thomas Crooks days before he tried to kill then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in 2024.
The records were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch in July of 2025, almost an exact year after Crooks tried to kill Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The records include 48 heavily redacted pages containing “investigative files, interview summaries, reports, communications, media, and database records, as well as any FBI communications,” according to Judicial Watch.
Included among the records are heavily redacted summaries of interviews that were conducted with Butler County Sheriff’s Office deputies on July 16, which was three days after the Butler shooting by Crooks.
In one interview summary, a female deputy said that she checked her email after being contacted by a New York Times reporter, only to find two emails that’d previously been sent to her by Crooks.
The heavily redacted summary states that the deputy was “advised she checked [SIC] her emails and records and only had two email communications from CROOKS and both emails were in regard to [redacted].”
The summary further made sure to note that, aside from the Crooks emails that were identified after his death, the deputy “did not have any personal interaction with” the deceased suspect.
Another interview summary, this one from July 17, mentioned a Beaver County Emergency Services Unit first responder who said she was directed toward the American Glass Research (AGR) building — the building on top of which Crooks had opened fire from — after the shooting began and Crooks was killed by the Secret Service.
“She utilized a black collapsible ladder to get onto the roof of the AGR facility,” the summary reads. “At 1823 [6:23 p.m.] [redacted] arrived on roof and did not see any officers down. She was told by others on the roof to evaluate the shooter.”
“She observed that the shooter had injuries not sustainable for life. She checked the shooters pulse on the carotid on the right side and did not find one. She pronounced him dead at 1825 [6:25 p.m.],” the summary continues.
Shortly after she pronounced Crooks dead, one of the Washington County SWATÂ officers who’d accompanied her discovered something strange in the deceased suspect’s pocket.
“The Washington County SWAT officer checked the shooter’s right pocket and discovered a gray remote device with numerical push buttons and an antenna and a cell phone,” the summary reads.
Judicial Watch’s findings come only days after two men who were shot but survived Crooks’ shooting filed suit against the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security for gross neglect.
“James Copenhaver and David Dutch alleged in separate but similar lawsuits filed Monday in the Western District of Pennsylvania that the U.S. Secret Service and [DHS] were grossly negligent in their failure to secure the event premises in Butler, Pennsylvania,” according to station WVII.
President Trump previously gave the two men a shout-out during an October 2024 rally:
President Trump acknowledges brave Americans David Dutch and James Copenhaver, who were badly wounded on July 13th.
Butler, PA #TrumpRally pic.twitter.com/VCtsZZ4gf7
— AJ Huber (@Huberton) October 5, 2024
“Congressional investigations … reviewed the USSS’s failures on the day of the assassination attempt, including Senate findings which concluded that the USSS’s failures directly led to the shooting complained of herein, including, but not limited to, that the USSS’s conduct consisted of a ‘cascade of preventable failures,'” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit notes that Dutch underwent multiple surgeries after being shot in the abdomen. Copenhaver, meanwhile, was hit in the abdomen and left arm by two bullets. Fragments reportedly remained lodged in his body after the shooting.
“The defendant United States of America, by and through the [Secret Service], committed egregious failures and failed to abide by and adhere to various protocols, policies and procedures which directly and proximately caused the shooting and/or allowed it to occur,” the lawsuit continues.
“The assassination attempt on President Trump’s life was entirely preventable and was caused, in whole or in part, by the failures of the USSS in the days leading up to the event as well as on the day of the assassination attempt,” the suit concludes.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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