Tucker Carlson alleges the FBI, under Director Patel, is withholding key information about Trump shooter Crooks, intensifying political tensions around the case.
Carlson attacked current FBI Director Kash Patel, his predecessor Christopher Wray, and Patel deputy (and former Secret Service agent) Dan Bongino in an episode of his podcast of the same name that was released on Friday. Carlson accuses each of hiding important information about Crooks and the security lapses that caused him to come within "a quarter-inch" of making what would have been a fatal headshot on Trump.
Additionally, he disparaged the Department of Justice, which oversees the FBI and is led by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Thomas Crooks came within a quarter inch of destroying this country, and yet, a year and a half later, we still know almost nothing about him or why he did it. That's because, for some reason, the FBI, even the current FBI, doesn't want us to know,”
Carlson said.
The former Fox News anchor went on to say that his report would "reveal details of Crooks’ social media accounts" and that the FBI and Justice Department "have hidden from the public what they know" about the would-be killer.
The conclusion that Crooks "was not some secretive lone wolf who never warned anyone that he was planning violence" is the result of his startlingly thorough explanation of how he and his staff obtained and verified copies of a large portion of Crooks' social media history and online footprint.
Carlson explained how Crooks, a Trump supporter who had "called for dictatorship" and "put Hispanics 'back in their place,'" had left "a detailed digital trail of violent threats, including calls for assassinations and political violence" against prominent Democrats before "radically" turning against Trump in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It was an amazing transformation,”
he said as he rattled off a series of quotes from Crooks’ online history that displayed an increasing affinity for violence and disdain for right-wing media figures such as himself.
Additionally, he claimed that the agency was "not only stonewalling but is actually preventing an honest look at what happened," partly by refusing to provide Congress with information such as Crooks' autopsy report and video of the gun range where Crooks practiced before attempting to assassinate Trump.
He then asked:
“Why did the FBI suggest that he had no digital footprint in the first place, when the FBI had a great deal of evidence, hundreds and hundreds of comments, not from his digital activity, and what's on the other dozen accounts that the FBI clearly had access to?
If there's nothing there, if they tell you this is just a lone nut who gave no indication he might do this, then what is stopping the FBI from at least giving the facts to Congress? Because if there's nothing there, these should be very easy questions to answer,”
he said.
The FBI's Trump-aligned leadership strongly objected to the right-wing podcaster's accusations against the agency, launching a "Rapid Response" account on Thursday to target Carlson.
What new facts have emerged about Thomas Matthew Crooks's motive?
New data arising about Thomas Matthew Crooks's motive remain inconclusive and puzzling despite expansive examinations. Civil authorities, after canvassing over 200 people and assaying his phone and internet conditioning, are unfit to find a clear ideological or political provocation behind his attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Substantiation indicates Crooks delved colorful political numbers across party lines, including Trump, Joe Biden, and others, and searched information related to major political events, but this points further to a magnet to high- profile targets than a prejudiced docket.
His family reported he infrequently bandied politics and was seen dealing with internal health issues, including signs of depression and socially isolated behavior.