Tucker Carlson accuses Donald Trump of shutting down assassination attempt investigation

Adam Downer Fri, June 12, 2026 at 9:48 PM UTC

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Carlson said that Dan Bongino told him that Trump shut down the investigation into his own assassination attempt. By: MEGA

Conservative pundit-turned-unlikely-Trump-nemesis Tucker Carlson has made the eye-popping accusation that Donald Trump shut down the investigation into the assassination attempt on his life in the summer of 2024.

On June 11, Carlson spoke with podcaster Mario Nawfal about lingering questions surrounding the Butler, Penn., rally where Trump was shot at by Thomas Matthew Crooks. Numerous aspects of the shooting led to conspiracy theories suggesting that the assassination attempt was staged by Trump to generate sympathy and momentum for his presidential campaign.

Carlson implied a conspiracy theory that Trump staged his assassination attempt. By: MEGA

One such aspect was that Crooks was killed in his sniper's perch and left behind no manifesto or social media posts that could explain his motivation for the shooting.

During his conversation with Nawfal, Carlson claimed that former Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino got "hysterical" about the shooting and said President Trump didn't want the FBI to help out.

"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," Carlson said.

Carlson said podcaster-turned-Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino was 'hysterical' about Trump shutting down the investigation into the Butler rally. By: MEGA

Carlson said he "accidentally came into possession of a lot of the social media posts that we were told didn't exist, that were posted by Crooks in the months and years before the shooting." He asked Bongino why the FBI hadn't released the posts to the public.

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"So I called [FBI Director] Kash Pateland I later called Dan Bongino and I say, 'You know, what is this?'" Carlson said. "'I'm not attacking you, it was the previous FBI administration that did this. It was [former FBI director] Chris Wray, but what is that?' And Dan Bongino became hysterical with me on the phone."

The 57-year-old former Fox host continued: "When I brought this information to his attention, 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."

Conspiracy theorists have suggested that the assassination attempt was staged, but these claims remain baseless. By: MEGA

Carlson stopped short of outright accusing Trump of staging his own assassination attempt, but he did say, "This is not what we've been told it was."

Bongino, 51, quickly fired back at Carlson.

"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."

Bongino showed texts messages between himself and Tucker Carlson that appear to contradict Carlson's claims. BY: The Dan Bongino Show

On June 12, Bongino went on his podcast, "The Dan Bongino Show," and tried to discredit Carlson. He claimed that he had the text messages Carlson was referring to, and showed them on screen, though they have not been independently verified as genuine. The texts do not support what Carlson told Nawfal.

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Source: “AOL Breaking”