President Donald Trump explicitly alleged Tuesday that the 2024 attempt on his life by would-be assassin Thomas Crooks was a “Democrat Plot” designed to keep him from the White House, and further argued that the Biden administration’s FBI director “should pay a price.”
Trump’s accusation comes after newly disclosed FBI documents revealed new personal details about Crooks and his apparent obsession with firearms.
“Everybody knows the Crooked Joe Biden FBI didn’t do what they should have with respect to the Lunatic who shot me in Butler, PA,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
“By the time I got into Office, on January 20th, most of the information was missing, altered, corrupted, or gone. New info was just found! Why wasn’t it seen long ago? This was all a Democrat Plot, to get me out of the Election, that failed. Dirty Cop [and former FBI Director] Christopher Wray should pay a price for the way he handled this assassination attempt, and certainly for the things he said.”
Trump has blamed Democrats for the shooting in the past, but has largely blamed Democratic figures’ rhetoric for motivating the shooter. He first blamed Democrats just weeks after the incident occurred, specifically citing accusations that he was a “threat to democracy.”
Trump continued to blame Democrats’ rhetoric for the shooting over the next several months, but before Tuesday had not outwardly claimed the assassination attempt to be a “Democrat plot.”