President Trump Campaign Trail 2024, Butler, PA Photo Credit: AP Photo, Evan Vucci
Forty-five days after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released a litany of investigative information. While any nibble goes a long way, the information provided has shortcomings insomuch as the FBI still is not being specific about the all-important physical evidence.
Special Agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office, Kevin Rojek, provided remarks during a media call that simply raise more questions. For example, Rojek explains that the “FBI is now in possession of the subject’s autopsy and toxicology reports from the coroner’s office.” Great. When did the FBI obtain the autopsy and toxicology reports from the coroner? Is Rojek referring to the Butler County Coroner or the Allegheny County Medical Examiner? People often confuse these two entities. Specificity would be helpful. It matters.
Oliver Morrison 90.5 WESA U.S. Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee leads a tour of the site in Butler County where a shooter attempted to assassinate former President and presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Two things are becoming abundantly clear regarding the “investigation” into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. First, nobody trusts the FBI. Secondly, everybody is complaining that the FBI is stonewalling and withholding information about the alleged shooter and, therefore, the entire sordid event is quickly turning into a Kennedy Assassination-like conspiracy. In other words, nobody trusts the FBI.
Oddly enough the biggest complainers are sitting on the singular investigative body that has the greatest ability to get information but hasn’t utilized its power. The House Bipartisan Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Former President Donald Trump has the ability to obtain crucial physical evidence, without the FBI’s permission, and remarkably has failed to act. If the FBI doesn’t want to play fair, there are other useful tools.
When AbleChild helped pass the first law of its kind on informed consent and psychiatric drugs, “the prohibition on mandatory medication” that is attached to the Individuals with Disability Act (IDEA), just talking about the wrongful and dangerous use of psychiatric drugs on children was taboo. But the issue crossed all political lines and became what AbleChild considered a human rights violation. Today, a piece of legislation is making its way through the Florida legislature that AbleChild feels compelled to speak about – Amendment 4 “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion.”
AbleChild has a history of standing up for issues of Informed Consent. The organization worked with a Democrat Governor, House, and Senate in Connecticut to pass a measure that would get the 1-800 MEDWATCH number placed on all prescription drugs so that consumers would have the ability to report side effects to the only “consumer driven” program that monitors drug safety. AbleChild strongly believes in open conversations, where no issues are off the table, even those that are not supported by lawmakers.
Congressman Clay Higgins, investigator for the House Bi-Partisan Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Former President Donald Trump, is not a happy camper. In the Congressman’s preliminary report, the lawmaker raises questions about troubling actions on the part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), describing those actions as “an obstruction of justice to any following investigative effort.”
What exactly has the FBI done that doesn’t sit well with the Congressman? First, Higgins complains that “the coroner’s report and autopsy report are both “late.” And the second issue the Congressman has with the FBI is that the federal agency allowed the alleged shooter’s body to be cremated prior to Congressional inspection. So, let’s deal with each complaint independently.
Contrary to Congressman Higgins statement, the coroner’s report and autopsy are not “late.” AbleChild spoke with the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office on August 4th and was advised that the autopsy had been conducted and returned to the Butler County Coroner, which will be explained later in the article. Neither the Coroner’s death certificate nor the autopsy is “late.”
Whoever provided this information to the Congressman was either out of the loop or lying. The Butler County coroner was in possession of the autopsy and his own death report when Congressman Higgins met with him. To state otherwise is bizarre.
It might behoove the Congressman to inquire, again, with the Butler County Coroner about not only the reports the coroner had in his possession when meeting with the Congressman, but also why the coroner was directed at midnight on the night of the shooting to return the next morning to carry out the identification process. The Congressman may want to know who made that request, who was guarding the crime scene all night and where is the police log of all who may have been on the roof of the AGR building during the evening.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat nominee for President, has recently begun to refer to the Democrat ticket as “joyful warriors.” The phrase coined from remarks made by her running mate Tim Walz praising Harris during a rally saying, “thank you for bringing back the joy.” This is an interesting phrase to represent the Democrat ticket when one considers that study after study has determined that liberals enjoy poorer mental health than conservatives.
According to a study reported in the Columbia Magazine, “American adults who identify as politically liberal have long reported lower levels of happiness and psychological well-being.” And a group of Columbia epidemiologists found evidence that “the same pattern holds for American teenagers…while the rates of depression have been rising among students of all political persuasions and demographics, they have been increasing most sharply among progressive students…”
The authors speculated that the reason for the increased mental health issues could be “left-leaning teens may have been affected by Donald Trump’s election as president, the US Supreme Court’s subsequent lurch to the right, rising socioeconomic inequality, and worsening political polarization.”
The federal investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump can be described as one screw up after another. Just last week, Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA) submitted a Preliminary Investigative Report to the House Bipartisan Task Force reviewing the attempted assassination and shocked the nation by explaining that the body (of the alleged shooter) was gone.
The fact that the body of the alleged shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was released from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner to the family for cremation just ten days after the shooting is bizarre on its face. In fact, the Butler County Coroner told Congressman Higgins “he would have never released Crooks’ body to the family for cremation or burial without the specific permission from the FBI.” The Congressman suggested a cover up when he wrote “this action by the FBI can only be described by any reasonable man as an obstruction to any following investigative effort.”
Phone Interview Thursday, August 14, 2024 with Bradford Arick, FBI Public Affairs Specialist
Question:
The FBI has hacked into Thomas Crooks’ phone and released information about several politicians that apparently was on that phone. Why was that selective information released and not specific information such as if the father was looking for his son the day of the shooting, as has been reported by numerous news organizations. Senator Grassley’s office released the log of the shooting range; it is in conflict with the father’s call.
FBI Answer: No information either way.
Question: Why hasn’t the FBI held a press conference on where the investigation stands? Do you think the public has a right to know?
FBI Answer: We have very much engaged the press and did a press conference. The FBI has been exceedingly transparent more so than usual.
Something just doesn’t seem right with the Crooks family. Above and beyond the possibility that their son tried to take out a former U.S. President, murder one and wound two others and everything that goes with that, the Crooks just seem odd, beginning with the alleged nagging phone call placed by the father to the Butler Police the day of the attempted assassination.
Remember that Thomas Brian Crooks, the father of the alleged shooter, told law enforcement that according to CBS News “Matthew Crooks called police before the shooting at the rally, concerned about his son and his whereabouts.” Fox News explained it this way. “Thomas Matthew Crooks’ parents were looking for him on Saturday in the hours leading up to the Trump rally shooting and eventually called law enforcement to indicate that he was missing, and they were worried.” Fox further embellished that “it’s unclear what his parents’ told authorities, but the call happened on Saturday before Crooks later opened fire at Trump during the rally in Butler…”
Photo Credit:RMA US Army Freedom of Information Library
It would appear that the U.S. Military is going down the path of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) when it comes to providing detailed mental health information. The recent release of the investigation on Maine shooter Robert Card by the U.S. Army Inspector General is chock full of useless information, but missing what many would argue is most important…what psychiatric drugs Card was prescribed prior to his murderous rampage.
Can’t any government agency ever just provide a straight answer? Apparently not. The Inspector General’s (IG) investigation basically rehashes what the media already has repeated ad nauseam… Robert Card was hearing voices, his behavior had regressed, and his family and co-workers were concerned about him, worrying he may hurt himself or others.
While grateful for the IG’s recap, it was the one and only new piece of information that the IG provided that really matters. The IG, unlike anyone on the State of Maine’s Independent Commission, at least, finally, let us know what Card had been diagnosed with. Here’s how it went for the Army Sergeant.
On August 2nd many news outlets reported that the autopsy of Thomas Matthew Crooks had been released by the Butler County Coroner’s office. The fact is that mainstream media is late to the party and the Butler County Coroner’s office released the cause and manner of death of Thomas Matthew Crooks to AbleChild nearly two weeks earlier on July 21st.
Unfortunately, what the mainstream media doesn’t understand is that the cause and manner of death is not an autopsy and, although an autopsy has already been conducted on the alleged body of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the results of that autopsy may never see the light of day.
That’s right. Along with so many other aspects of this “investigation” the public may never get to know the details of the alleged assassin’s autopsy. And, while the autopsy shuffle is interesting, the questions regarding chain of custody of that body that need to be asked of the Butler County Coroner, William F. Young III, are even more compelling. So, let’s first recap the case of the missing autopsy.
