Tucker Carlson Claims ‘Terrified’ Dan Bongino Told Him Trump Shut Down Butler Assassination Investigation Himself
Tucker Carlson claimed a “terrified” and “hysterical” Dan Bongino told him President Donald Trump was the one who shut down an investigation into an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, a notion Bongino is already denying.
Carlson joined Mario Nawfal on Thursday and opened up about his alleged interactions with Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel over lingering questions he has about Trump’s attempted assassination during a 2024 rally in Butler.
Thomas Crooks, 20, was killed in his perch, but the lack of a manifesto and social media postings has led to numerous conspiracy theories about the motivation of the shooting.
Carlson claimed he came into possession of social media posts by Crooks, and he had an awkward exchange with Bongino on the subject while Bongino was still serving in the Trump administration.
He said:
I know that, about Butler, I know that Trump shut down the investigation into Butler. That is a fact. Dan Bongino told me that when he worked at the FBI. And Dan Bongino himself was terrified when I spoke to him in December. It’s such a long, boring story, but basically I came into possession, I beg your pardon, of, accidentally came into possession of a lot of the social media posts that we were told didn’t exist, that were posted by Thomas Crooks in the months and years before the shooting. And I was amazed that the FBI had lied about this. So I called Kash Patel and I later called Dan Bongino and I say, you know, what is this? I’m not attacking you, it was the previous FBI administration that did this. It was Chris Ray, but what is that? And Dan Bongino became hysterical with me on the phone. I’ve known Dan a long time for many years and always gotten along with him. You know, whatever his faults, nice guy. Certainly very nice to me. I never had a problem with Dan, ever. And that problem began when I brought this information to his attention and he became a different person. He was clearly terrified. I didn’t get it at first, but he was hysterical. And ultimately, after a long series of text exchanges, which I still have, and phone conversations, he said, look, take it up with Trump. He’s the one who shut down the investigation. And that was, I think, the first or second week of December. I think it was the beginning of the second week in December. I have it written down. But that was the moment and I realized, “Oh wow, there’s no good explanation for shutting down an investigation into your own attempted murder.” This is not what we’ve been told it was.
Once a vocal supporter of the president, Carlson has turned into a frequent Trump critic, blasting him over the current Iran conflict, the Epstein files, and more.
Carlson has been talking about the Butler assassination attempt recently, saying on his own show that Trump became an “enthusiastic tool” for Israel and changed certain positions after the incident.
“He spent his campaign in the 2024 race arguing against regime change war, attacking people in favor of it — and then he launched it,” he said. “And not just launched it, but became this kind of, enthusiastic tool of the government of Israel.”
Bongino responded to Carlson’s claim in an X post on Friday morning, denying it and slamming the former Fox News host as a “nepo baby.”
More receipts incoming on my show today that the nepo baby is lying again.
He’s like Teddy Ruxpin, you put a coin in his back and he tells you a story. https://t.co/ZH22reLjcn— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) June 12, 2026
“More receipts incoming on my show today that the nepo baby is lying again,” he wrote on X. “He’s like Teddy Ruxpin, you put a coin in his back and he tells you a story.”