Corey Comperatore died shielding his family from Thomas Crooks' bullets at the Butler rally.
Two years later, Chuck Grassley's Senate Judiciary Committee just received FBI documents that change the picture.
Someone paid to make sure investigators would never get certain answers about that day.
FBI Records Show Anonymous Donor Paid to Cremate Thomas Crooks Before Congress Could Examine the Body
The revelation is buried at the end of a federal interview summary with Thomas Crooks' father, Matthew.
Five words: "Anonymous donor paid for cremation."
The FBI released Crooks' body just ten days after he nearly killed President Trump at the Butler rally – and someone no one can identify paid to have it cremated before any independent examination could take place.
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) found out the hard way.
He showed up on August 5, 2024, to examine Crooks' body as part of the congressional investigation into the catastrophic security failures at Butler.
There was nothing left to examine.
"My effort to examine Crooks' body on Monday, August 5 [2024], caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact… the FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after (July 13)," Higgins wrote to the bipartisan congressional task force.
The documents reviewed by the New York Post indicate the anonymous donor information came from a lawyer representing the Crooks family.
Matthew Crooks was retired and unemployed at the time of the shooting, his wife on leave from work – suggesting the family could not cover funeral costs on their own.
Who covered them remains completely unknown.
Thomas Crooks Used the Bob Dole Alias to Hide What He Was Building Before Butler
The cremation detail is only part of what Grassley's documents reveal.
Crooks had been ordering packages under the pseudonym "Bob Dole," borrowing the name of the late Republican senator and 1996 presidential nominee – firearm parts and rifle-capacity equipment delivered to his family's home under a dead man's name.
He told his parents he used the alias because he was worried about identity theft after his father's bank account had been compromised.
Crooks collected the packages before his father came home from work.
Matthew also told investigators that Crooks began going to the gun range during the pandemic and was a "terrible" shot at first – couldn't even hit the paper target.
Four to five years of steady practice turned that around.
By Butler, Crooks was making regular 100-plus yard shots and had purchased a prism sight to extend his range further.
The Panther Arms A-15 he used that afternoon was given to him by his own father the morning of July 13 – Matthew thought his son was headed to the range.
He didn't realize he'd been watching Crooks study the combination to his locked gun safe for months.
Six days before Butler, Matthew watched Crooks on a garage surveillance camera pacing erratically, arms flailing, talking to himself while cleaning a gun.
He never connected the dots.
Trump Blasts Christopher Wray After New Thomas Crooks Documents Surface
President Trump was direct.
"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 Truth Social.
"By the time I got into Office … most of the information was missing, altered, corrupted, or gone. 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…"
Attorney General Todd Blanche addressed the investigation separately, confirming the FBI had discovered new information but stopping short of Trump's characterization.
"It's not really clear what the leadership of the FBI were doing in the weeks and months ahead of the attempted assassination to protect President Trump," Blanche told reporters.
That is the right question.
Christopher Wray's FBI let a 20-year-old spend years building a long-range shooting capability – ordering rifle parts under a dead senator's name, practicing the day before the attack at a local gun club, flying a reconnaissance drone 200 yards from the rally site two hours before shooting – and nobody caught it.
Then they released the shooter's body for cremation before a sitting congressman could examine it.
Then they handed a five-word note to a Senate committee two years later.
Whoever paid for that cremation may never be identified now.
That is either a coincidence or it is not.
Sources:
- Victor Nava, "Would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks had sick obsession with guns, federal documents show," New York Post, September 15, 2026.
- Victor Nava, "Cremation of would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks' body was paid for by 'anonymous donor'," New York Post, September 15, 2026.
- "New Crooks records stun lawmakers who investigated Trump assassination attempt," Fox News, September 15, 2026.
- "Anonymous Donor Paid to Cremate Thomas Crooks Just 10 Days After He Tried to Assassinate President Trump in Butler," The Gateway Pundit, September 15, 2026.
- "A Strange New Detail Just Emerged About the Man Who Tried to Kill Trump in Butler Pennsylvania," Townhall, September 15, 2026.
- "Trump Accuses 'Biden FBI' Of Completely Mishandling Butler Assassination Attempt," Western Journal, September 15, 2026.