FBI calls – The FBI hit back at Judicial Watch and its president, Tom Fitton, after Fitton argued the bureau was “slow rolling” the release of records tied to the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The FBI said the docum
On Sunday, the FBI didn’t just dispute a watchdog group’s characterization of newly released records about the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. It went after the language itself.
In a post on X, the FBI’s “Rapid Response” account slammed Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, calling the claim that the bureau is “slow rolling” information a “CLICK BAIT LIE.”
The dispute traces back to Fitton’s own post, where he said new FBI records show slain gunman Thomas Crooks “emailed local law enforcement before” the attempt. Fitton added that, “For whatever reason, FBI is slow rolling the release of records about Butler.”
The FBI’s response was direct and pointed. Its “Rapid Response” account said: “This is a CLICK BAIT LIE by Judicial Watch which is now nothing more than the fake news media!” The bureau added that the “unredacted documents are interviews of Thomas Crooks’ by COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS. NOT cops. wherein those instructors reference to having emailed Thomas Crooks about COURSE WORK.”.
The FBI closed with a jab at the way Fitton was framing the records, writing: “Maybe if you spent more time on Facts instead of clicks you wouldn’t be a laughing stock.”
That same Sunday post from Fitton also drew on a video he shot a year earlier, in which he accused the FBI of “covering [the assassination attempt] up everyday since” it happened.
Two days before Sunday’s clash. Judicial Watch announced what it said it forced through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit: the release of “48 heavily redacted pages” from the FBI. Those pages. according to Judicial Watch. show a Butler County Sheriff’s deputy exchanged emails with Thomas Crooks prior to the July 13. 2024. shooting in Butler. Judicial Watch also said the records indicate that a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) officer recovered a “gray remote device” with an antenna from Crooks’ pocket after he was killed.
In the FBI’s view, Fitton and Judicial Watch botched those details in their telling. The “Rapid Response” account said the documents were interviews “by COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS, NOT cops,” referencing instructors’ statements about having emailed Crooks about course work.
The latest confrontation comes as Kash Patel. the FBI director. has already said publicly that the bureau determined Crooks acted alone in the shooting. Patel told Fox News last year that 485 agents participated in the investigation and more than 1,000 interviews were conducted. He also said Crooks killed rally attendee Corey Comperatore.
Taken together. the firefight centers on what the public is meant to infer from the released material: Fitton’s claim of delay and emphasis on emails reaching local law enforcement. versus the FBI’s insistence that the underlying documents Fitton highlighted involve interviews with Crooks’ college instructors and references to course work. What looks like a transparency victory to one side is. in the FBI’s telling. an intentionally misleading presentation by the other.
FBI Rapid Response Judicial Watch Tom Fitton slow rolling Thomas Crooks Butler Pennsylvania FOIA Freedom of Information Act Kash Patel Corey Comperatore Special Weapons and Tactics SWAT
So the FBI is calling him a liar… but who really knows? lol
Wait, are they saying the emails weren’t to police? Cuz that’s what I thought the whole point was. If it’s instructors instead of cops then why is everyone acting like it’s the same thing.
“College instructors” emailed him about course work?? That sounds like a technicality. Slow rolling still seems plausible if the FBI’s timing is off, and these FOIA fights always take forever anyway. Also “click bait lie” like they’re not in the click business too.
This is why I don’t trust any of them. Judicial Watch, FBI, all of it. They’re arguing over wording and redactions like that makes the truth come out clean. If instructors emailed him, then fine, but why is it only coming out now? Feels like cover up but then again the FBI talks like it’s impossible, so idk.