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New Details Emerge on Trump Assassination Attempt Gunman Training

4 sources · updated 2026-09-17
Left 100% Center 0% Right 0%
3 left · 0 center · 0 right

What happened

On July 13, 2024, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots from an AR-15-style rifle at a Donald Trump campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, six minutes into Trump’s speech. Trump was struck in the ear; one person was killed and two others were injured. Secret Service snipers killed Crooks on a rooftop outside the venue. Newly released FBI files, described as about 600 pages of interviews and investigative reports, state that Crooks registered for the rally on July 6 and practiced with a long rifle at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club in Clairton, Pennsylvania, the day before the shooting.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 3 articles

1 of 2 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report, credited to New York Post. Most articles credit New York Post rather than reporting it themselves.

What these terms mean and how they're counted
On the record · names a source 1 of 2
On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: FBI and Chuck Grassley
Primary evidence · cites a document or data 2 of 2
Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: FBI documents, documents
Credits another outlet 1 of 2
The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: New York Post
Unnamed sources 0 of 2
The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
How it developed
When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 16, 01:53 UTC by NBC News, crediting New York Post, naming its source. First document in the first report, from NBC News (FBI documents).
Not counted 1
Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
ONE-SIDED THIS WEEK. Only left-leaning outlets have covered this story in the last two days; Daily Wire reported it on 2026-09-15.
Omitted — what each side leaves out

Unpacked

Right-leaning outlets have not covered the new FBI files on Thomas Crooks at all. Left-leaning coverage reports he practiced shooting the day before the Butler rally and registered for the event on July 6. His father told investigators the gun obsession began during the pandemic, according to NBC News. The Hill mentions only the registration. A reader on the silent side would not know investigators released 600 pages of interviews with family, teachers, and coworkers. One left-leaning account leads with a poor marksman who trained weekly, including the day before the speech. The other never moves past the ticket request. That longer account also says it asked Grassley for the files and did not receive them, and has not independently verified what the Post was shown in person. What in the interviews, if anything, explains why Crooks opened fire?
Bottom line

NBC News reported Crooks trained at a gun club the day before Butler and donated $15 to a Democratic group; The Hill noted little beyond registration, and right-leaning outlets have not covered the files.

The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
  • Crooks practiced shooting at the Clairton Sportsmen's Club the day before the Butler rally individual casein NBC News · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • Crooks donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project in 2021 while registered as a Republican numberin NBC News · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • Sen. Chuck Grassley said investigators still do not know why Crooks wanted to kill Trump official statementin NBC News · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • A rally-goer told the FBI Crooks was making hateful comments about Trump before the attack individual casein NBC News · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • Crooks asked for July 13 off at the nursing home and volunteered to work July 14 instead individual casein NBC News · absent from right-leaning coverage
The Left View
The Hill and NBC News, citing the newly released FBI files, report that Crooks trained with a long rifle up to the day before the Butler attempt and practiced at Clairton Sportsmen’s Club about once a week. They describe him as increasingly focused on firearms after the Covid pandemic, taking handgun classes at Keystone Shooting Center, ordering gun parts online under the name Bob Dole, and asking for July 13 off from his job as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Nursing and Rehab. Coverage also notes he was a registered Republican who donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project in 2021, was called an “odd duck” by a shooting-range employee, and that Sen. Chuck Grassley said investigators still do not know Crooks’s motive. NBC News said it had not independently verified some documents the New York Post cited after Grassley’s office showed them to that paper, and that Grassley’s office did not provide the files when NBC requested them.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive: it rests on named actors, specific dates and locations, and a large set of FBI interview and investigative files rather than a single uncorroborated claim. Established facts include the July 13, 2024 shooting, Crooks’s death at the scene, his July 6 rally registration, and contemporaneous reporting that the FBI compiled hundreds of pages on his firearms practice, work schedule, and acquaintances. Details attributed only through the Post’s account of documents shown by Grassley’s office—including some of the father’s statements—remain reported but not independently verified by NBC News. No right-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch for public release or independent review of the full file set, any official FBI summary of motive, and whether additional outlets corroborate the documents Grassley’s office has described.

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