UPDATE: Shortly after the publication of this article, the FBI provided the following statement: “The focus of the FBI’s investigation is the attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania by Thomas Crooks. The Pennsylvania State Police conducted an investigation into the death of Thomas Crooks. The autopsy was performed by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office as delegated by the Butler County Coroner’s Office. The FBI’s role was to be present during the autopsy and collect evidence.
“The FBI is aware that the medical examiner performed a postmortem X-ray on Crooks’ body, which revealed small bullet fragments. The medical examiner extracted one bullet from the body during the autopsy and an FBI agent collected that evidence. The fragment, item 80, was examined at the FBI Laboratory.
“For any further questions about the autopsy, we refer you to the Pennsylvania State Police and the Allegheny County Medical Examiner.”
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Multiple bullet fragments were found in alleged Trump shooter Thomas Crooks’s skull, neck and upper back, according to his autopsy report, which was exclusively obtained and published by Headline USA in October.
But when Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., visited the FBI’s lab in Quantico, he was only shown two bullet fragments—one from Crooks’s shoulder, and one that was recovered from the rooftop he used as a perch to shoot at Trump.
Higgins revealed this to reporters Thursday after the House July 13 Task Force held its final hearing into the Butler assassination attempt.
“I’m at Quantico, saying, ‘Where are the other bullet fragments? Here’s two of them: One recovered from Crooks and the other from the roof,’” Higgins said.
“‘We don’t know anything about that, congressman, we’re just lab guys,’” Higgins said he was told.
Great work @JG_CSTT getting this footage. Higgins reveals new info, including that bullet fragments from Crooks's body have allegedly gone missing.
I'm not sure why Higgins says he learned of the multiple bullet fragments from the Pennsylvania State Police. The info's right there… pic.twitter.com/WvO7D7sZT5— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) December 6, 2024
Higgins also criticized Allegheny County Medical Examiner Ariel Goldschmidt, who conducted the autopsy, for misleading him about the matter. Higgins said Goldschmidt first provided him with Crooks’s autopsy results a week before the Task Force’s first hearing in September—leaving him with the impression that only one bullet fragment was found in Crooks’s shoulder.
Higgins said he only learned of the other fragments when reading a Pennsylvania State Police report, which X-rays that showed the other fragments. (Those other fragments were mentioned in the autopsy report, so it’s not clear why Higgins said he only learned of them from the PSP report.)
Higgins added that he requested Crooks’s X-rays, but hasn’t received them. Headline USA also requested them, but was denied because they’re not subject to disclosure under the state’s public records laws.
The missing bullet fragments might help resolve the controversy of who shot Crooks, and when. Adams Township Police Department Sgt. Aaron Zaliponi shot at Crooks first, and has said he thinks he hit Crooks. The Secret Service put the final kill shot into Crooks 10 seconds later. The FBI and Goldschmidt have both insisted there’s no evidence that Zaliponi hit Crooks, even though Crooks stopped firing after Zaliponi shot at him.
Crooks’s body was released for cremation, so it’s unclear whether the other fragments are recoverable. The FBI didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Even though the Task Force has finished its work, Higgins promised to continue investigating the Trump assassination attempts. He said he expects to lead a subcommittee next Congress.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
