Controversial radio star Tucker Carlson dropped one of his most explosive conspiracy theories yet Thursday about the attempted murder of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennslyvania in 2025.
Carlson claimed that former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino was “hysterical” and “terrified” and told him that President Trump personally shut down the federal investigation into the assassination attempt.
Carlson claimed that a series of phone calls and text exchanges with Bongino took place in December 2025 while Bongino was still serving at the FBI. The alleged exchange began, Carlson said, after he “accidentally came into possession” of Thomas Crooks’ social media posts made in the months and years before the July 2024 shooting.
“I was amazed that the FBI had lied about this,” Carlson said about Crooks’ social media account. The FBI claimed the posts had been deleted.
“So I called Kash Patel, and I later called Dan Bongino, and I said, ‘What is this? I’m not attacking you. It was the previous FBI administration that did this. It was Chris Wray. But what is this?'”
Carlson said Bongino’s reaction was unlike anything he had seen.
“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,” Carlson said. “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, ‘Take it up with Trump. He’s the one who shut down the investigation.'”
“That was the moment I realized, ‘Wow, there’s no good explanation for shutting down an investigation into your own attempted murder,'” Carlson said. “This is not what we’ve been told it was.”
Bongino responded Friday morning on X, forcefully denying the conspiracy theory.
“More receipts incoming on my show today that the nepo baby is lying again,” Bongino posted. “He’s like Teddy Ruxpin, you put a coin in his back and he tells you a story.”
Carlson’s allegation fits into the turn he has taken against Trump in recent months. On his own show this week, Carlson claimed Trump became an “enthusiastic tool” for Israel after the near assassination.
“He spent his campaign arguing against regime change war, attacking people in favor of it — and then he launched it,” Carlson said.
Trump has responded to Carlson’s recent criticism by branding him “Low IQ.”
The FBI’s November 2025 official conclusion was that Crooks acted alone. The investigation involved 485 FBI employees and more than 1,000 interviews worldwide. The FBI has still never identified a motive for the shooting.
Thomas Crooks, 20, was killed in his sniper perch after putting a bullet through Trump’s right ear and fatally shooting a rally attendee behind the president.