An unknown donor paid for the cremation of Thomas Crooks, the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump, just 10 days after the Butler rally attack, according to federal records submitted to the US Senate that still do not explain his motive.
The note is at the end of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interview with Crooks’ father, Matthew, among documents given to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. The family’s lawyer told investigators that the cremation was paid for by an anonymous donor. The records do not name the donor or explain the payment. According to the documents, neither of Crooks’ parents were working at the time: his father was unemployed and later retired early, and his mother was on leave.
Hasty cremation and congressman’s objections
Crooks, 20, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper on July 13, 2024, after opening fire from a rooftop at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing Trump’s ear, killing firefighter Corey Compatore and wounding two others. His body was given to his family and cremated on July 23, 10 days later.
Representative Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican who was part of a bipartisan task force investigating the attack, attempted to examine the body on Aug. 5, 2024, and found it had already disappeared. He called the early release “an impediment to any subsequent investigation.” The FBI rejected the accusation as inaccurate and unsubstantiated, saying it was cooperating with the county coroner and local police.
Nickname “Bob Dole” and trail of gun parts
The same records confirm how Crooks hid his purchases. His father said he ordered parts, tools and equipment to increase the power of his guns through Amazon under the name “Bob Dole,” the late Kansas senator and 1996 Republican presidential candidate. Matthew Crooks said the alias came about after his own bank account was hacked and accused of fraudulent gambling.
Investigators have already documented more than 25 firearm purchases from online sellers dating back to the spring of 2023, followed by purchases of precursor chemicals used in explosive devices found after the shooting.
Loner obsessed with privacy and firearms
Crooks taught his parents to hide their digital footprints by recommending virtual private networks and secure browsers, which he claimed were harder to track. He maintained encrypted email accounts, and officials later identified at least 35 digital accounts linked to him, including overseas addresses in Germany and Belgium. The FBI found no outside connection to the attack.
His father described a son who was emotionally distant from birth, had no friends at school and was talking to himself in the months before the attack. He saw no sign that Crooks would act.
The lone wolf question is still unanswered
More than two years later, the main question remains relevant. The FBI says Crooks acted alone, without any foreign or domestic help, but has never determined why he climbed onto the roof. Director Cash Patel said Crooks had contempt for both parties and saw Trump as the face of a system he hated.
Trump, briefed on the results, blamed the previous administration’s handling of the case in a message Tuesday. The donor who paid for the cremation of his remains remains unnamed, another gap in a case that has never been fully closed.