Investigative journalist Ken Silva discusses his two-year investigation into the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, detailed in his book The Trump Assassination Plots, and connects it to the second attempt by Ryan Routh and broader patterns of federal law enforcement failures and possible manipulation.
Ken Silva’s background and entry into the Butler investigation
Silva has been a reporter for nearly 15 years, starting in local Ohio news, then spending most of his 20s as a crime reporter in the British Virgin Islands before returning to the U.S. in late 2021 to work in alternative/conservative media.
He missed major stories like Russiagate, the 2020 election, and January 6, so when Trump was shot at Butler, he immediately latched onto it as the story he wanted to lead on.
His investigation began the night of July 13, 2024, after a rally attendee told an ABC reporter there were two shooters, including one on a water tower; Silva published a quick story on the “second shooter” claim that went semi-viral.
He filed numerous FOIA requests, eventually winning a legal battle to obtain Thomas Crooks’s autopsy and toxicology reports from Allegheny County (where the autopsy was performed) after both Allegheny and Butler counties initially refused to release them.
He also obtained radio communication transcripts and other documents that underpin his book.
Thomas Crooks’s background and pre-attack digital footprint
Crooks was a high-IQ 20-year-old who graduated high school with a 4.0, excelled at community college engineering, and appeared close with his family (e.g., 3D-printed a braille chessboard for his legally blind mother).
A community college email from June 14, 2024 — less than a month before the shooting — shows him requesting his diploma to enroll in a four-year university that fall, making his turn to violence inexplicable.
FBI memos (later released via Judicial Watch lawsuit) reveal Crooks was hospitalized for two weeks in May 2024; a neighbor reported his bedroom light stayed off for that period, and Crooks claimed it was for “dehydration.”
Tucker Carlson’s November 2024 documentary uncovered a massive YouTube archive showing Crooks, at ages 16–17, openly commenting about assassinating politicians, executing Democrats in the streets, and marching on Washington; he also communicated with a Norwegian neo-Nazi (“Willie Tempus”) from the Nordic Resistance Movement (a State Department-designated terrorist group).
The FBI had claimed for over a year that Crooks had no significant online communications; the YouTube archive contradicts this and suggests he should have been flagged by Google and law enforcement.
Crooks appeared in a 2022 BlackRock commercial filmed at his high school (a teachers’ pension fund ad), which Senator Josh Hawley asked BlackRock about; no response was received.
His parents have made no public statements; his father, Matthew Crooks, told an ATF agent the night of the shooting that CNN had called him 10 minutes earlier asking about his son — suggesting a leak — and described Thomas as a contrarian who played devil’s advocate, not overtly political.
Anonymous sources later claimed the father told the FBI his son was having a mental breakdown in his final months, yet Matthew gave Thomas the AR-15 rifle hours before the shooting.
Security failures and timeline of the Butler shooting
The rally was at the Butler Farm Show grounds (~20 acres); the AGR building (where Crooks fired from) was ~200 yards from the stage, technically outside the Secret Service perimeter, with no metal detectors or fencing blocking public access.
The campaign was supposed to park Penske trucks and farm equipment to block the line of sight; they didn’t, and the Secret Service proceeded anyway — an excuse Silva calls insufficient.
Secret Service Sniper Team One (behind Trump’s right shoulder) had responsibility for the AGR roof but had trees obstructing their view; Team Two (left shoulder) had a clear view but was assigned to cover south, not north — a planning failure for which the team leader was suspended.
Local police snipers were inside a two-story building north of the AGR roof; they saw Crooks multiple times but miscommunicated his location due to radio confusion and a “game of telephone” between separate local and federal command centers.
Timeline highlights:
~3:50 PM: Crooks flies a drone over the site for 15 minutes; Secret Service counter-drone equipment fails until ~10 minutes after Crooks lands it (bad Ethernet cable).
4:26 PM: First reported sighting — a local sniper leaving his post sees a man on a park bench looking up at them; later cell phone footage shows Crooks was actually on the opposite side of the site at that time (Vendor’s Row) — a false sighting never explained.
~5:00 PM: Local snipers see Crooks again near their building, now with a rangefinder; they text the local command center, but the leader doesn’t read it for ~20 minutes.
6:00 PM (Trump takes stage): Local snipers spot Crooks again; he runs between buildings and scales the AGR roof via an AC unit. The sniper thinks he ran north toward a gas station; all local cops converge there while Crooks is already on the roof.
~6:10 PM: A local cop by the water tower sees Crooks running on the roof; local command center calls Secret Service — “suspicious guy with rangefinder is on the roof.” Secret Service does nothing, doesn’t put it over radio, doesn’t pull Trump off stage.
Seconds before shooting: Butler Detective Tyler Collins gets boosted onto the roof by a partner; Crooks turns and points his rifle at him; Collins drops and radios “he’s got a gun.”
6:11 PM: Crooks fires 8 shots in ~5 seconds (three distinct, pause, then five rapid); a 9th shot (different sound) comes from Butler SWAT officer Aaron Zalapony on the ground, firing an M4 from between Trump and the building — likely grazing Crooks’s ear and shattering his rifle stock.
10 seconds of silence, then a 10th shot: Secret Service Sniper David King (Team Two) fires a .300 Win Mag round that hits Crooks in the jaw, exits, re-enters his shoulder, and fragments — 15 seconds after Crooks’s first shot, 10 seconds after Crooks stopped firing.
Major scandal: David King initially told the House committee he didn’t see Crooks until after Crooks stopped firing; his own contemporaneous notes (obtained by Senate staffers) said he saw Crooks crawling into position with an AR-15 before the shooting. Cell phone footage shows King looking through his scope at the AGR building 7 seconds before the first shot. King remains on Trump’s detail; Trump publicly praises him as a hero who “responded in 4 seconds from 400 yards” (actually 15 seconds from ~200 yards).
Autopsy, toxicology, and evidence mishandling
Crooks’s body was left on the roof until ~6:00 AM the next morning (12 hours), while victim Corey Comperatore was autopsied within hours.
Medical examiner Ariel Goldschmidt conducted the autopsy with FBI and Pennsylvania State Police present; found 5 wounds (entry, exit, re-entry from Secret Service round, plus two re-exit wounds from fragmentation).
Goldschmidt and FBI claim Zalapony never hit Crooks — but Crooks stopped firing immediately after Zalapony’s shot, and Zalapony insists he saw Crooks stagger back.
Crooks’s body was cremated with bullet fragments still inside (visible on X-ray), destroying potential evidence of Zalapony’s hit.
Toxicology tested 7 specimens but only reported results for 4; hair, bile, eye fluid, and one blood tube results are missing. Only “drugs of abuse” (meth, heroin, fentanyl) were tested negative; no psychotropic screening reported.
Congress demanded preservation of evidence; FBI allowed cremation before congressional examination.
High lead levels found — attributed to Pittsburgh-area water pipes.
The July 12 “Iranian plot” and its connection to Butler
On July 12, 2024 (day before Butler), the DOJ announced the arrest of Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national allegedly working for Iran to assassinate Trump.
Merchant was allowed into the U.S. in April 2024 (possibly via a “Fast and Furious”-style operation letting watch-listed individuals in to track networks).
He didn’t speak English; an FBI informant (Afghan translator) acted as his cab driver, introduced him to two undercover agents posing as hitmen; they went to a strip club, discussed vague plans (assassination, protests, document theft), and Merchant said “meet me in Pakistan in September” — then was arrested at the airport.
Highly controlled sting: no weapons, no money, no specific target, no capacity. FBI says no link to Crooks.
However, the Secret Service received intelligence about an “Iranian threat” ~1 week before Butler — this case — and deployed Secret Service snipers to a former president’s event for the first time in history because of this intelligence.
Those same snipers (Team One and Two) then waited 15 seconds to return fire.
Israel provided the initial intelligence on Merchant; the U.S. let him in and ran the sting.
Ryan Routh — the second assassination attempt (September 2024)
Two months after Butler, Trump golfed at his Palm Beach course; Secret Service agent doing advance on the 6th hole spotted Routh in bushes pointing a rifle at him from ~10 feet away.
Agent fired 5 rounds, missed all; Routh fled in a Nissan Xterra. A citizen heard shots, noted the license plate, and called sheriffs; Routh caught 45 minutes later on I-95 in Martin County.
Routh’s criminal history: 2002 — threatened an employee with a shotgun, stored dynamite illegally, fled police, standoff with a “Tommy gun” in his car; result: probation, 2 days jail. 2004 — fenced stolen construction equipment (tens of thousands of dollars); probation violation + 3 new felonies; result: more probation. Never served prison time.
2016: Pro-Trump, then Tulsi Gabbard supporter. 2022: After Russia invaded Ukraine, wound down construction business, went to Poland/Ukraine to fight; rejected as combatant (58, no experience), switched to recruiting — including jihadists from Syria and Afghanistan veterans.
Reported to seven federal/international agencies (CIA, FBI, DHS, Interpol, Ukrainian agencies, State Department). State Department had an open investigation into him for arms trafficking violations at the time of the attempt.
Routh camped at the golf course from ~2:00 AM; Trump’s golf plans were communicated to Secret Service at ~2:00 AM same day. Routh’s phone first pinged near the course at ~2:30 AM — 30 minutes after Secret Service was notified. Federal charging papers claimed he arrived before Trump’s plans; a state search warrant contradicts this, suggesting a possible leak.
Routh knew the exact bush line used by local press/paparazzi for Trump photos — despite being from North Carolina, living in Hawaii, with no local connections.
Published a book on his Ukraine time mentioning his “best partner was an Israeli” (never identified) and communicating with pro-Western Iranians (identified by reporter Ali Pakzad).
Trial: Routh fired his lawyers, represented himself (judge allowed it), rambled about Gaza/democracy in opening statement, forfeited it after judge’s warning. Sentenced to life; likely headed to ADX Florence Supermax (total isolation).
DOJ invoked Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) to withhold classified info from discovery; Judge Eileen Cannon (same as Mar-a-Lago case) sealed it, stating release would damage national security — raising questions about what classified info exists on a domestic assassination attempt.
Oklahoma City bombing investigation and parallels
Silva has researched OKC for ~5 years, inspired by Wendy Painting’s 700-page PhD thesis/book on Timothy McVeigh.
Official story: McVeigh alone delivered truck bomb (April 19, 1995, 9:02 AM, 168 dead including 19 children); Terry Nichols helped build bomb; Michael and Lori Fortier had foreknowledge. No others involved.
Evidence of additional participants:
John Doe 1 and John Doe 2: Two men seen renting the Ryder truck days before. FBI put out manhunt for John Doe 2 (AG Janet Reno: “armed and dangerous”), then retracted, claiming witnesses confused them with two men who rented a truck the next day. The rental clerk (Eldon Elliott) wasn’t working the next day and swore to his death it was McVeigh and another man.
Surveillance footage: FBI and Secret Service documents describe footage showing two subjects exiting the truck. Lawyer Jesse Trentadue has fought a 20-year FOIA lawsuit for this footage; documents confirm it exists.
24+ witnesses saw McVeigh in a Ryder truck with someone else on bombing day.
Elohim City connection: White supremacist compound in Oklahoma. ATF informant Carol Howe warned handlers in January 1995 that residents were casing federal buildings, including OKC. McVeigh visited Elohim City; so did members of the Aryan Republican Army (ARA) — a bank-robbing gang funding a right-wing revolution.
ARA informants: ARA leader Pete Langan was a Secret Service informant sprung from prison in ‘91/’92 to track threats against Bush/Clinton; instead went AWOL and formed ARA. Connecting ARA to OKC would implicate Secret Service.
Two Ryder trucks: Sightings of a second Ryder truck at McVeigh’s motel a week prior (Easter Sunday, credible witnesses). Theory: Feds put transponder on first truck; plotters switched trucks, used one as decoy.
Unidentified leg: A leg fragment (Part 71) never matched to any of the 168 victims. Kathy Wilburn Sanders (grandmother of two child victims) filed lawsuit June 2025 seeking DNA testing via genetic genealogy (GEDmatch); state AG claims it’s an “open case” and refuses. Silva speculates it could be an undercover agent who tried to defuse the bomb.
McVeigh’s lawyer (Stephen Jones): McVeigh attacked him physically; when asked why the truck renter wouldn’t collect the $2M reward, McVeigh said “How is the truth going to help me?” John Doe 1 sketch resembles ARA member Pete Ward (chewed tobacco, 5’10” vs. McVeigh’s 6’1”).
Broader patterns, government transparency, and Trump’s response
FBI transparency: Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit forced release of ~300-400 pages so far; FBI admits 75,000 pages exist, releasing ~50/month — decades to complete. Many redacted or under grand jury seal. Nothing from Crooks’s phone released; Bonino told Joe Kent (ODNI counterterrorism chief) “we got into it, nothing there” — but Kent wanted to check for foreign nexus (Iranian informants contacting Crooks).
Trump’s public vs. private stance: Joe Kent says Trump told him privately he was “absolutely not” satisfied with the investigation; publicly (Bret Baier, April 2025) Trump said he was satisfied after a briefing. Bonino took office March 27, 2025; Trump declared satisfaction ~1 week later — suggesting reliance on prior FBI work, not new investigation.
Trump’s silence: Speculation ranges from Nixon-like private suspicion (Nixon privately doubted CIA on JFK but never went public) to threats against family/institutional pressure. Silva doubts it’s because the event was staged — too many authentic elements (local cops, Butler doctor treating Trump, real deaths, NYT bullet photo, TMZ footage of Crooks firing).
Probability of staged event: Silva estimates ~0.1% — believes if it was an operation, intent was likely to kill Trump; the 15-second sniper delay could be incompetence, stand-down order, or failed sting.
Iran narrative: Used repeatedly (Merchant, July 2025 “proxy forces in Turkey” intelligence — deemed phony by CIA/Turkish officials, led to Trump tearing up MOU and restarting war; September 2024 “smuggled surface-to-air missiles” intelligence used to move Trump to Witkoff’s jet). Israel is the common source; appears to manipulate Trump via assassination fears.
Charlie Kirk shooting (Tyler Robinson): Parallels — engineering student, gun-enthusiast family, alleged extreme politics, similar age — but Robinson was more sociable (Discord chats, boyfriend), unlike loner Crooks.
Silva’s current and future projects
Editor of Headline USA (conservative/libertarian news site).
Ongoing OKC documentary series (~3 seasons planned with Tucker Carlson).
Next book: History of the right-wing underground and FBI infiltration (1970s–present), covering Ruby Ridge, ARA, OKC, and links to current events — Ruby Ridge (1992) and OKC tied via PATCON (Patriot Conspiracy) FBI infiltration program; Randy Weaver entrapped by ATF informant into sawed-off shotgun sale, wrong court date given, 18-month-later SWAT raid killed his son and wife (FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shot Vicky Weaver holding baby).
