One Year Later, Questions Remain About Butler Despite Trump Being ‘Very Satisfied’ With Investigation

One year after an assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the president says he is “satisfied” with an investigation into the attack, although details remain vague.

On Saturday, July 13, 2024, just a few days before the Republican National Convention, Trump took the stage for a campaign rally at Butler, Pennsylvania. Six minutes after the now president appeared before his supporters, gunfire rang out. One minute later, Secret Service agents moved Trump off stage, blood running down the side of his face. He raised his fist in the air, yelling “fight, fight, fight.”

For months, questions about the assassination attempt loomed. Who really was the assassin? What was his motivation? How did the Secret Service miss a man with a rifle on a rood? Will Trump be able to continue doing outdoor rallies? (RELATED: ‘Why Are We Not Pressing?’: Harris Faulkner Demands Bipartisan Push For Answers On Trump’s Assassination Attempt)

A year later, many questions remain unanswered. Yet, Trump recently told the Daily Caller that he is “very satisfied” with the answers his FBI, DOJ and Secret Service have been able to provide him.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. . (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

It was a notable answer from the president, who months earlier disclosed that he felt quite differently.

In July 2024, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks sat on “an elevated position” on top of a building about 400 feet away from Trump and was able to fire off multiple rounds into the crowd. One of Crooks’ bullets grazed Trump’s ear, injured crowd members and killed former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore. A report from The Wall Street Journal said Crooks reportedly flew a drone over the Pennsylvania site, capturing aerial footage of the rally setup hours before the incident. It was reported that counter snipers and law enforcement laid eyes on Crooks and identified him as a suspicious person in the moments leading up to his first shots against Trump.

“I’m relying on my people to tell me what it is … The Secret Service, they tell me it’s fine. But it’s a little hard to believe,” Trump said in March.

Days later, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino insisted that there was no conspiracy behind the assassination attempt on Trump’s life.

“If there was a big, explosive ‘there’ there — given my history as a Secret Service agent, and my personal friendship, as a director does with the president, give me one logical, sensible reason we would not have — if you can think of one, there isn’t,” Bongino said on Fox News.

“In some of these cases, the ‘there’ you’re looking for is not there. And I know people — I get it, I understand. It’s not there. If it was there, we would have told you,” he added.

Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds on October 05, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. This is the first time that Trump has returned to Butler since he was injured during an attempted assassination on July 13 on October 05, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Little is still known about the late 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, who attempted to kill Trump during the Butler rally. Investigators still have not shared Crooks’ motive.

Crooks donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project through the ActBlue donation platform in January 2021, when President Joe Biden was inaugurated, according to campaign finance records. He was also a registered Republican, voter registration records reveal. Ahead of the Trump rally, Crooks searched “how far was Oswald from Kennedy,” “where will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show,” “Butler Farm Show podium,” and “Butler Farm Show photos.”

Now, the Secret Service says six agents for failures related to the assassination attempt were suspended without pay, according to multiple reports. The disciplined agents were both supervisory and line agents and suspensions ranged from 10 to 42 days, according to ABC News.

The agents returned to work in restricted roles, USSS deputy director Matthew Quinn told CBS News.

TUNE IN: President @realDonaldTrump discusses the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in an exclusive interview with @LaraLeaTrump nearly one year later. Watch the full interview on @MyViewFNC, Saturday at 9 PM ET. pic.twitter.com/jYqdvwOiQ5

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 10, 2025

Trump did an interview with his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to mark the anniversary of the near assassination attempt, telling her that the agents on duty at the rally just had a “bad day.”

“They should have had somebody in the building [Crooks shot from], that was a mistake,” Trump said. “They should have had communications with the local police, they weren’t tied in, and they should have been tied in. So there were mistakes made … But I was satisfied in terms of the bigger plot, the larger plot, I was satisfied.”

“And I have great confidence in these people,” Trump added. “I know the people. And they’re very talented, very capable. But they had a bad day. And I think they’ll admit that. They had a rough day.”