The 2024 Trump assassination attempt and political violence today
One year after President Trump’s assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, some analysts say political violence in the U.S. is on the rise.
- The conservative group Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit on July 12 against the Department of Justice.
- The group accusses the DOJ of Freedom of Information Act violations after it sought records related the 2024 attempted assassination of President Donald Trump.
The conservative group Judicial Watch sued the Department of Justice over alleged Freedom of Information Act violations following the denial of its request for records related to the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in July 2024.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia a day before the one-year anniversary of the shooting at Trump’s July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A bullet grazed Trump’s right ear, and an attendee, firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed.
Officials identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by Secret Service.
The complaint says Judicial Watch submitted a FOIA request to the FBI on July 24, 2024, for “all records” related to Crooks and “all records of communication in any form” between Crooks and FBI officials, sources, contractors or assets.
The FBI denied the request in a letter on Aug. 5, 2024, according to the complaint. The Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy then rejected the organization’s appeal on Aug. 21, 2024.
“No more delays and excuses, the FBI should release what it has on the man who tried to kill President Trump a full year ago in Butler,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a July 14 news release. “Attorney General Pam Bondi should direct a full and immediate records response to this Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit.”
The lawsuit requests that the court require the Justice Department to search for and produce “any and all non-exempt records” related to its request.
The organization also sued the Department of Homeland Security in March over records related to the shooting.
USA TODAY reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment Reporting Fellow at USA TODAY. Reach her at bjfrank@usatoday.com.
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