Judicial Watch President Thomas Fitton criticized the FBI for delaying the release of documents connected to Thomas Matthew Crooks’ assassination attempt on President Donald Trump. During an interview with Fox News Digital, Fitton expressed frustration that at the current processing rates, it would take 12 years to release the documents. This timeline prevents any challenge to withheld information for over a decade, which Fitton deemed unacceptable.
Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2025 after the FBI denied a July 2024 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. This request sought information about the FBI’s investigation of Crooks’ attempt to assassinate Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“They’re telling us it will take 12 years. Under this timeline, we can’t even challenge withheld documents until then. This is unacceptable,” Fitton told Fox News Digital.
As a result of the lawsuit, Judicial Watch received multiple batches of documents revealing text messages Crooks sent to an unknown recipient. These recipient details were redacted by the FBI. Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, attempted to kill former President Trump during a 2024 campaign rally before Secret Service agents shot and killed him.
“We’re receiving these documents because they’re part of the investigation, yet we’re not being told who he was talking to,” Fitton said.
There are concerns about withholding information regarding Crooks’ communications, which have raised public doubts about a potential cover-up. With the redacted identities of those Crooks communicated with, the details of their exchanges remain unknown.
The FBI documents included cryptic messages sent by Crooks between May 2023 and January 2024, consisting of seemingly unrelated and nonsensical one or two-word texts.
“Hello … Hello red …Hello red … Hdudhdbdbbd … 7888ejdj … Yolo … Ddodjjf … 890 … Hdjd … Djdj … red … Yup red … Hello … Jhhhuuh … Hhdj … Jjjjjjjjjjjj … Hello red … Red red,” Crooks’ messages stated.
Fitton also noted the importance of balancing the privacy of correspondents against the public interest in understanding the circumstances surrounding the former president’s near-fatal incident.
“The public interest in understanding how a former president was nearly killed outweighs the privacy interests of those named in the documents,” Fitton said.
Additional documents obtained by Judicial Watch revealed Crooks engaged in a heated exchange with rally attendees before climbing onto a building roof to fire the weapon. Fitton emphasized the bizarre nature of Crooks’ public behavior at the rally.
“Crooks was behaving erratically in a very public manner at the rally, arguing about Trump and then going up on the roof. This behavior blows my mind,” Fitton shared.
The urgency of releasing the approximately 75,000 pages involved in the investigation was underscored by Fitton, who criticized the slow rate at which the FBI processes the documents.
“At 500 pages per month, it will take over 12 years to review everything. This is unacceptable,” Fitton said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI and U.S. Secret Service for comments but faced delays.