Newly released FBI records have revealed previously unseen text messages involving Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who wounded Donald Trump and killed retired firefighter Corey Comperatore during the July 2024 rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The documents were obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The FBI announced Friday that it had produced 249 pages of records after the agency failed to respond to a July 2024 request.
The Justice Department has said the broader investigative file contains roughly 75,000 pages.
Crooks, who was 20 at the time, opened fire from a rooftop during Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign rally.
Trump was wounded, Comperatore was killed and two other rallygoers were injured before Crooks was shot and killed by law enforcement.
Among the newly released material are messages recovered from Crooks’ Samsung cellphone.
An FBI “Samsung Messaging Review” dated July 18, 2024 identified certain communications as relevant to the investigation.
One exchange involved an unidentified contact and took place in February 2023.
The contact responded to a message from Crooks that is fully redacted in the released records.
“Woah that looks cool,” the person wrote.
The contact then asked Crooks, “Did you 3D print the parts?”
Several hours later, Crooks responded, “Yes, except for the fan blades.”
The records do not identify exactly what Crooks had made.
They also do not say whether the printed parts were connected to a firearm, a 3D printer project or something else.
The same conversation reportedly included discussion about coursework at separate colleges.
Another series of messages involved an unidentified person on Christmas Day in 2022.
“Thanks for the gifts,” the unknown contact wrote.
Crooks responded, “Your welcome. Thanks as well.”
The documents do not explain what the gifts were.
A separate FBI communication dated July 19, 2024 documented another chat involving Crooks and a person whose name was redacted.
That conversation reportedly ran from May 2023 until January 2024.
The outgoing messages attributed to Crooks were largely short phrases, repeated words and random-looking strings of characters, per Trending Politics.
They included messages such as “Hello,” “Yolo,” “890,” “red,” “Yup red” and multiple variations involving the word “red.”
Other messages appeared to be nonsensical strings of letters and numbers.
The incoming side of that conversation was entirely redacted.
As a result, the released records provide little context for what the exchange meant or who Crooks was communicating with.
The newly released documents also add to earlier information about Crooks’ interest in 3D printing.
In investigative material previously provided to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, told investigators that his son had once created a Glock 19 using a 3D printer.
“Using carbon fiber plastic, a dryer and a toaster oven, Thomas did once create a Glock 19,” the elder Crooks said.
Crooks’ father said he personally fired one round from the printed firearm.
He said he stopped because he was concerned the frame might explode.
Matthew Crooks also told investigators that he did not allow his son to use the gun.
The latest FBI production contains other evidence investigators reviewed after the shooting.
That material includes 40 images and eight flight logs recovered from a drone used by Crooks.
The images were reportedly taken between Feb. 6 and Feb. 27, 2024 in the Pittsburgh area.
One flight was logged in Butler on July 13, 2024, the day of the assassination attempt.
The records also include DHL notifications concerning a shipment from Hong Kong.
The released material does not explain what was contained in that shipment.
Investigators also recovered political fundraising text messages sent to Crooks, including appeals from then-Senate candidate Raphael Warnock.
The newly released records provide additional detail about Crooks’ digital activity, but they leave major questions unanswered.
The identities of several contacts remain redacted or otherwise unknown, while large portions of the conversations themselves are still hidden.
The records also do not establish whether any of the unidentified contacts had knowledge of Crooks’ later attack.
For now, the messages offer investigators and the public another limited glimpse into Crooks’ communications before the July 2024 shooting, while much of the FBI’s larger case file remains unreleased.
