OPINION:
The FBI is getting defensive about demands for information concerning the man who came within a quarter inch of murdering Donald Trump. Sixteen months have passed since the ill-fated campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, yet the public remains in the dark about the underlying causes of the Secret Service’s colossal failure.
On Friday, Tucker Carlson produced a 34-minute video revealing social media postings from shooter Thomas Crooks that shatter the sanctioned narrative that the 20-year-old lacked a significant online presence.
The retort from the FBI was: “This FBI has never said Thomas Crooks had no online footprint. Ever.”
As the community note on X helpfully points out, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate testified to the “general absence” of information on Crooks. He found it worth mentioning only an account that a 15-year-old Crooks used to spout anti-immigration and antisemitic rhetoric. This fit neatly into the spin that leftists in the media sought to promote: that Crooks was a right-wing extremist motivated by racism.
More than a year ago, Gab founder Andrew Torba stepped forward to say that it was misleading. Crooks had a more recent membership on his platform under the moniker “epicMicrowave,” where he presented himself as a fan of President Biden, but “this FBI” hasn’t corrected the false impression created by Mr. Abbate’s witting or unwitting omissions.
Mr. Carlson drew from YouTube comments and other online rantings to flesh out a portrait of Crooks as a young man raised in a conservative part of the country whose views shifted with age. By the time he pulled the trigger, Crooks had become radicalized so far to the left that he was willing to fire into a crowd, killing one attendee and seriously wounding two others, simply because he disagreed with their politics.
Kash Patel’s response to the former Fox News host’s disclosure was unsatisfying. “The investigation, conducted by over 480 FBI employees, revealed Crooks had limited online and in person interactions, planned and conducted the attack alone, and did not leak or share his intent to engage in the attack with anyone,” the FBI director wrote.
“Limited” is a uselessly subjective way to characterize the would-be assassin’s interactions. If the case is closed regarding accomplices, then lift the veil of secrecy. Mr. Patel’s agency alone has access to the contents of the multiple cellphones that belonged to Crooks. Because Crooks is dead, there is no reason Mr. Patel can’t show us what he discovered.
The American people won’t be satisfied without seeing the evidence upon which Mr. Patel based his broad conclusions. Until then, loopy theories about international conspiracies will fill the void left by the withholding of critical facts.
Mr. Patel knows better than almost anyone else about the previous administration’s use of the house that Hoover built to engage in political hanky-panky. The new director promised transparency. Although he has delivered more than his predecessors, high-profile cases that spark nationwide interest call for rolling releases.
Effectively saying “trust us” doesn’t cut it, given the agency’s perjurious past. G-men played central roles in the Russiagate hoax. They helped censor the Hunter Biden laptop story in the lead-up to the 2020 election. They colluded with social media companies to suppress conservative voices.
It’s not just the Butler shooting raising questions. From the Jan. 6 pipe bomber to the Epstein files, silence only diminishes credibility, something already in short supply at 935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
There’s an easy remedy for the trust deficit. Show us what you have.
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