What unfolded in Butler, Pennsylvania, was already one of the most chilling moments in modern U.S. politics: a gunman on a rooftop, eight shots, a former president bleeding onstage and two innocent people dead. Now, the story is shifting from a lone attacker to a system that may have seen the danger coming and failed to act—or chose not to share what it knew.
Rep. Pat Fallon says his task force was “stonewalled,” never told about hundreds of extremist posts investigators linked to Thomas Crooks. Former FBI leaders insist they ran a massive probe, while critics like Tucker Carlson accuse them of hiding the gunman’s digital trail. Between those versions lies a frightening uncertainty: if a would-be presidential assassin can slip through the cracks after leaving such a footprint, how safe is anyone who steps onto a political stage again?
