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New York Post columnist Miranda Devine is urging federal authorities to release a complete and transparent account of the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on President Donald Trump. In a Monday column, she argued that key details surrounding the shooting remain unexplained and that the FBI and Secret Service have mishandled the investigation from the start.
Devine wrote that the public still lacks a clear explanation of how 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed onto a rooftop overlooking Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he fired eight rounds from an AR-15 style rifle, grazing Trump’s ear and killing firefighter Corey Comperatore.
“We are all owed a better explanation,” she wrote, adding that Trump himself remains “unsatisfied” with the answers federal agencies have offered.
According to Devine, former FBI Director Chris Wray initially told Congress that investigators found no online motive or ideological signals in Crooks’ digital activity. One week later, Deputy Director Paul Abbate testified that Crooks had posted antisemitic, anti-immigration and violent political comments. Devine reported that the FBI’s account did not reflect the full picture and said Abbate misled Congress.
Devine described a dramatic ideological shift between January and August 2020, when Crooks allegedly moved from “rabidly pro-Trump” to “rabidly anti-Trump.” The source she quoted identified 17 accounts across platforms that included YouTube, Discord, Snapchat, Venmo, Zelle, Quora, GroupMe, Chess.com and DeviantArt.
Devine wrote that Crooks’ online history contradicted claims that he lacked a motive. She reported that his posts included praise for mass killers, calls for political assassination, extreme anti-government rhetoric, attacks on Trump and Republicans, and references to Trump supporters as a “cult.” One 2020 post read, “The only way to fight the gov is with terrorism style attacks… track down any important people … and try to assassinate them.”
The source told the Post: “The danger Crooks posed was visible for years. … His radicalization and obsession with political violence were all documented under his real name.”
None of that material was included in the official congressional report released in December 2024, Devine wrote.
Her column also said Crooks used they/them pronouns on DeviantArt, a site associated with the furry subculture. Two accounts linked to his email posted violent illustrations and fetish content. YouTube removed Crooks’ main account the day after the shooting, following five years of posts that included violent rhetoric, Devine said.