Here’s What Sheriff Deputy Emailed Trump Shooter

A newly released Federal Bureau of Investigation file is fueling fresh questions about whether Thomas Crooks had any unexplained contact with a Butler County deputy before the Trump rally shooting.

Quick Take

Judicial Watch says FBI records show a Butler County sheriff’s deputy exchanged two emails with Crooks before the July 13, 2024, attack.^[1]
The released material is heavily redacted, so the public cannot see the full content of the emails.^[1]^[2]
The House task force report shows law enforcement was already tracking a previously identified suspicious person before the first shots were fired.^[3]
ABC News reported that FBI agents told Trump investigators found no evidence that anyone else was involved.^[2]

What the FBI Records Show

Judicial Watch says it forced the release of 48 redacted pages from the Federal Bureau of Investigation through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, and those pages reference two email communications between Crooks and a Butler County sheriff’s deputy before the rally shooting.^[1] The same release says a deputy confirmed the communications in post-incident interviews, but the public version leaves the substance of the emails hidden behind heavy redactions.^[1]

That matters because the public debate is no longer about whether contact existed; it is about what that contact meant.^[1]^[2] The available record supports only the narrow fact of email exchange, not a proven motive, a conspiracy, or a harmless explanation. The contents remain obscured, which means readers should separate documented communication from speculation about coordination or wrongdoing.^[1]^[2]

Why Supporters of Transparency Are Pressing the Issue

For many Americans, especially those who still remember how slowly authorities moved after repeated failures in other cases, unexplained contact between a would-be assassin and a local law-enforcement employee is not a minor footnote.^[1]^[3] The House task force report shows that officials were already dealing with Crooks as a suspicious person before the shooting, including a Butler Emergency Services Unit sniper texting Secret Service personnel about him and alerting them over the radio.^[3]

That timeline gives the email issue real weight, even if it does not prove misconduct. If law enforcement was already noticing Crooks, then any prior communications with a deputy deserve a careful review rather than a shrug. At the same time, the redacted records do not show who initiated the emails, why they were sent, or whether they were connected to any legitimate police function.^[1]^[2]

What the Public Record Does Not Prove

ABC News reported that FBI agents told Trump investigators had accessed Crooks’ foreign email accounts and found no indication that anyone else was involved in the attack.^[2] CBS News also reported that investigators were still trying to access encrypted platforms and had not identified Crooks’ motive.^[2] Those summaries narrow the field of responsible analysis: the emails raise questions, but the current public record does not establish a second actor, operational coordination, or a hidden plot.^[2]

Newly released FBI records show a Butler County Sheriff's deputy exchanged emails with Thomas Matthew Crooks before Crooks attempted to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald #Trump during a July 13, 2024, rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. MORE: https://t.co/qGzZ0iNghJ pic.twitter.com/wxgFBlpmA5

— Silence Isn't An Option (@Patriot_45_MAGA) June 7, 2026

The central problem is that the public has been given just enough information to know the emails were real, but not enough to know whether they were routine, investigative, mistaken, or something more concerning.^[1]^[2] That is why the case remains politically charged. Conservative readers are right to demand full disclosure whenever a federal investigation leaves a cloud of redactions around a near-catastrophic security failure, but the evidence released so far still stops short of proving the worst suspicions.^[1]^[3]