‘You Can Call Me a Lunatic!’ House Republican Claims Trump Shooter Was ‘Programmed’

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) joined MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson on Friday and spun a wild theory about the motivation and training of Thomas Crooks, the man who nearly assassinated then-candidate Donald Trump in 2024. Burchett thanked MAGA influencer Tucker Carlson for being the source for his theory.

“Benny, you got a kid who’s got access to guns or has some simple knowledge of a firearm. He was programmed. You’re exactly right. They programmed this kid, and Kristi Noem and Kash and Bongino and the rest are reporting the facts as they know them. The facts have been buried or burned, or whoever knew is either sitting on a beach somewhere enjoying a fruity drink, or they’re dead,” began Burchett, spinning his theory that an intelligence program was behind the Butler, Pennsylvania shooting that left one man dead and two others injured. Trump escaped with his life after a bullet seemingly grazed his ear.

“I would suggest they’re probably dead. And this is what happens. They claim it doesn’t—they label me and you conspiracy theorists—but this is exactly what we see happen. And it happens in Washington. It’s happening now. It’s too deep. It is. And that’s why I said I wish they could go in and just fire everybody and then just start back. But you can’t do that because of security,” continued the Tennessee Republican, adding:

You’re gonna fire some good people that clearly have their thumb in the dike on terror or what have you. And that’s where we’re at. That’s why Kash Patel and Bongino are having such a hard time. Kristi Noem, either way, I don’t give a rip either way. But I think at their level, that’s what’s happened. And I don’t care—you can call me a lunatic.

But when the CIA says, “This thing, we don’t have this thing,” and then they’re brought in, their asses are brought into a court of law, and they say, “Well, we have it, but we don’t use it anymore”—apparently somebody’s using it. They know to contact these people. If you look at the Muslim radicals and how they recruited them—do you remember they had a… the American Taliban or whatever, that kid they caught?

And nobody talks about that anymore. Nobody even remembers it. I think his parents were Americans. They went to the Greek church or something. That kid was programmed. And you know, you’re right—they washed the crime scene. I live in Knoxville, Tennessee, brother. If there’s a murder out here, our sheriff’s department’s got that thing blocked off. They got a tarp over it, and they’ve got it, you know, cleared. Nobody can get up on it. Nobody can contaminate the crime scene.

After Burchett continued for several more minutes, Johnson chimed in, “You are alleging that Thomas Crooks was groomed by some type of dark intel program—MK-Ultra or otherwise—in order to commit, on that day, the act of an assassination?”

“I think so. I’ve said that all along. I said that, and I’m glad somebody with Tucker’s credibility, you know, his ability to—and that’s my dog snoring over there, sorry for that—with his credibility has brought it out. Because I, you know, I yell this stuff all the time, and people just always dismiss it. But look at the history. Look at where we’re at in this country,” he replied, adding:

Look at the deep state, the sewer as it is, and it’s disgusting. This is what happens, dude, when 12% of the population goes to the polls. They know we’re so vulnerable, and we have very, very few people in the lineup that could do the damage to them like Trump. Trump’s right: they’re not after him, they are after us. He’s just standing in the way.

“The investigation, conducted by over 480 FBI employees, revealed Crooks had limited online and in person interactions, planned and conducted the attack alone, and did not leak or share his intent to engage in the attack with anyone,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X this week in response to the theory.

Watch the clip above.