On September 15, 2026, Trump posted on Truth Social that the July 2024 attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, was “a Democrat Plot.” He wrote: “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. By the time I got into Office, on January 20th, most of the information was missing, altered, corrupted, or gone,” and continued, “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 Christopher Wray should pay a price for the way he handled this assassination attempt, and certainly for the things he said.”
ABC News reported that Trump “did not offer any evidence” for the claim. The “new info” appeared to refer to FBI records provided to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and reported by the New York Post and Fox News, including that the gunman, Thomas Crooks, had ordered packages under the alias “Bob Dole.” ABC said it had “not independently reviewed those documents” and that the outlets reporting them did not report evidence of a conspiracy. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the records were “new information about the shooter” but offered no evidence of a plot, and, asked whether anyone would be punished, said, “The Department of Justice doesn't punish.”
The same day, Trump's own FBI director testified to the opposite. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Kash Patel said the bureau examined some 27 devices, “looked for connections to individuals in America and overseas, and we found no evidence that that individual was literally even speaking to any other human being other than his parents, who he resided with.” In November 2025, Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that the FBI had concluded Crooks acted alone; a senior official said, “There is no individual that is outside U.S. borders or inside U.S. borders that had any role in directing him, inspiring him or assisting him in any way.” Patel said then that Trump had been fully briefed and “the president was satisfied with the results.” Bongino said, “there is no cover-up here.”
Separate congressional investigations documented serious Secret Service security failures at Butler. The Senate Homeland Security Committee's Republican-led report in July 2025 described “a cascade of preventable failures.” Those reports addressed security lapses rather than a conspiracy. Trump's claim that most information was “missing, altered, corrupted, or gone” when he took office was not supported by any of the reporting; Patel said the FBI had provided the Secret Service and congressional committees with all information it could lawfully release.
Update (September 17, 2026): accounts of the roughly 600 pages of FBI records provided to Sen. Grassley add detail without supporting a plot. NBC News reported they show the gunman practiced “a 100-yard shot the day before” at a local shooting club, was a registered Republican who had given $15 to a Democratic-aligned group in 2021, and asked for July 13 off from work. Fox News, which reviewed the documents, reported they show his actions surprised his family and “his motive is still a mystery.” Grassley said, “We don't know anything about the motivation.”