Staff Reports
Newly released FBI records have dropped a startling detail into a story the public thought it understood: the father of the Butler, Pennsylvania shooter looked online in May 2024 for ways to keep his son from getting guns. That nugget — pulled from a Judicial Watch FOIA production and reviewed by press outlets — was not in the House task force files. Republicans who worked the case say they were blindsided. If true, it raises fresh questions about what federal agents knew and when they knew it.
New FBI records show father searched for ways to block gun access
The recent document dump runs about 180 pages and includes interview notes, device metadata, and other FBI summaries. One entry flags a May 2024 search by Matthew Crooks about preventing his son, Thomas Crooks, from accessing firearms. Judicial Watch and GOP investigators point to behavioral notes — pacing, talking to himself, odd purchases like body armor plates — and even records of weapons training enrollments in late May and June 2024. Taken together, these items are new pieces of the Butler assassination-attempt puzzle.
Why Republican investigators say they were blindsided
Representative Mike Kelly and other members of the House task force say they got little federal cooperation while they were writing their report and that these family interviews and notes were not part of what they reviewed. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley now has some of the FBI files, and committee members such as Senator Josh Hawley call the release overdue. The complaint is simple: congressional oversight cannot do its job if key records are held back until after a report is finished.
Unanswered questions that demand a full accounting
If a father was worried enough to search for ways to stop his son from getting guns, did any agency follow up? Were local welfare checks made? Did anyone in the FBI or Secret Service flag the family concerns to those who could act? We still lack a clear motive and a full timeline of who knew what. The earlier Senate reviews exposed planning and communication failures at the Secret Service. Now these FBI records suggest gaps between intelligence, family warning signs, and action.
Congress should stop treating oversight like optional paperwork. If the new files matter — and they do — the Senate Judiciary Committee should hold public hearings and demand the unredacted records. The American people deserve more than carefully edited summaries and surprised lawmakers. Call it accountability, call it basic common sense, or call it common courtesy to the victims and to every citizen who wants to attend a political rally without fearing for their life.
