The Aporia · Would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks had Snapchat that may hold evidence 'treasure trove': former FBI agent

Would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks had Snapchat that may hold evidence 'treasure trove': former FBI agent

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Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Sabes, A. (2026, September 16). Would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks had Snapchat that may hold evidence 'treasure trove': former FBI agent. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/us/would-be-trump-assassin-thomas-crooks-snapchat-may-hold-evidence-treasure-trove-former-fbi-agent

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

FBI documents released to the Senate show that Thomas Crooks, who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024, had a Snapchat account under the username "tom_crooks19." Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack suggested this account could contain significant evidence, contrary to popular belief that Snapchat data is irretrievable. The FBI also found an Amazon account and a Mailfence encrypted email service associated with Crooks. Director Kash Patel testified that there is no evidence linking Crooks to any other individuals beyond his parents.

Written by AI on 2026-09-17, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Thomas Crooks, who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024, killing one person and seriously injuring two others, has a Snapchat account with the username "tom_crooks19." FBI documents revealed this information after being turned over to the Senate. A retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent, Jason Pack, suggested that Crooks's Snapchat could contain valuable evidence. Despite popular belief, deleted snaps can still be retrieved during investigations, making it a potential "treasure trove" of data. Additionally, the FBI found an Amazon account and accounts with Mailfence and Gmail linked to Crooks.

Written for “Trump Assassin Evidence Found” on 2026-10-30, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 19% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

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“The articles describe different aspects of a larger event (the assassination attempt) but do not report on the exact same incident or time frame.”

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“Article A discusses the release of FBI files related to Thomas Crooks' Snapchat account and other accounts, while Article B focuses on Trump's anger regarding the handling of the assassination attempt more than two years ago.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

19%

3 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

70/100

Fox News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Politics

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-17 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 10 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Adam Sabes

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Topics

Amazon FBI Senate Snapchat the New York Post

Subjects

Crooks PERSON · 6× FBI ORG · 5× Snapchat ORG · 5× Pack PERSON · 3× Senate ORG · 2× Amazon ORG · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Thomas Crooks PERSON · 1× Trump PERSON · 1× the New York Post ORG · 1×

Narrative

And, so, if he's taking that much care to publicly not be seen picking up deliveries and those types of things, you have to assume he's probably taken just as much diligence with his social media and with his digital footprint," he said.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-17

🔮 Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack told Fox News Digital the Snapchat account may hold a "treasure trove" of evidence.

2026-09-17 · Fox News

Would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks had Snapchat that may hold evidence 'treasure trove': former FBI agent · assertive framing

Claims (16 extracted, 3 hedged)

Newly released FBI files turned over to the Senate reveal a Snapchat account tied to Thomas Crooks, the man who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump. asserted

who → release → Trump

The federal documents turned over to the Senate, first reported by the New York Post, revealed that FBI agents located a Snapchat account belonging to Crooks with the username "tom_crooks19." asserted

agents → turn → username

Crooks killed one person and seriously injured two others during his attempt to assassinate Trump July 13, 2024. asserted

Crooks → kill → Trump

According to the FBI documents, an Amazon account was also located. uncertain

account → accord → documents

Crooks also had an account with Mailfence, an encrypted email service, which the documents say he logged into multiple times between April 15, 2024, and July 8, 2024. asserted

he → have → April

He also used a Gmail account. asserted

He → use → account

Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack told Fox News Digital the Snapchat account may hold a "treasure trove" of evidence. uncertain

account → tell → evidence

"When you snap and that picture goes away that everything is gone, and that's not true. asserted

that → snap → ?

When I've served search warrants, there's been a treasure trove of information that has come back asserted

that → serve → information

," Pack said. asserted

Pack → say → ?

"It's not like some people think when you've snapped, and then it goes away, it's totally gone. asserted

it → think → ?

Pack said there are certain elements of Crooks' Snapchat account that may not have been recoverable but said there's a "good amount of information in there." However, Pack said Crooks was likely careful when using an app like Snapchat, since it's not fully encrypted. uncertain

it → say → Snapchat

"What you do see is a pattern of trying to hide things and using aliases. asserted

see → see → aliases

he → take → footprint

FBI Director Kash Patel testified Tuesday at a Senate Oversight Committee hearing that there's no evidence that Crooks was linked to anyone else. asserted

Crooks → testify → anyone

"We found no evidence that that individual was literally even speaking to any other human being other than his parents, who he resided with," Patel testified. asserted

Patel → find → who