On July 13, 2024, President Donald J. Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Since then, the threats and attacks on conservative activists, media personalities, and Trump himself have only escalated.
There have been three other incidents in which armed gunmen have gotten close to the president or his properties. In September 2024, Ryan Routh hid in the bushes outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach with the intent to shoot the president. In February 2026, an armed man was shot and killed after crossing a security perimeter at Mar-a-Lago. And in April, a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
'I’ll kill you also Donald Trump.'
Then a gunman assassinated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk during an appearance at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025.
In addition to these active threats and shootings, the Department of Justice has opened prosecutions in dozens of cases of individuals making online threats against politicians, including nearly 20 for threats against President Trump, since January 2025.
Those online threats against conservatives continue. Just this week, Jerusalem News Syndicate first made public the case of a Kansas man alleged to have made specific death threats against President Trump and conservative podcaster and Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro.
Kansas Highway Patrol arrested Korby Aaren Strube, a 29-year-old resident of Horton, Kansas, last week, according to a Brown County sheriff's employee with knowledge of the situation. He was taken into custody on a warrant from Palm Beach County, Florida. The warrant was for alleged threats Strube made against Shapiro, a resident of Palm Beach County, according to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Blaze News.
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The affidavit describes an investigation into the matter that began on August 4 after a security firm that provides protection to Shapiro alerted the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office to a series of threats posted on X on August 1 by a user named “Kory” with the handle @Ksqcrzk. X has since suspended the account.
The affidavit goes on to quote the since-deleted alleged posts, which included threats like, “I’m going to kill ben [redacted] and he’s not going to be a-live.” In other alleged posts, the user cited anti-Semitism as the reason the user wanted to kill Shapiro and gave a countdown that culminated on the feast of Yom Kippur.
The threats against Shapiro also included threats against President Trump and former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama. According to the affidavit, the poster wrote, “I’m still killing [redacted] and I don’t expect to get away with that … I’ll kill you also Donald Trump.”
During the course of the investigation, the affidavit claims, a forensic analysis of the digital trail for the posts — including information gained from X Corp., Google, and Starlink through a series of requests and warrants — tied the accounts to Strube.
The affidavit also describes the first meeting law enforcement had with Strube in Kansas, when a Brown County undersheriff and Secret Service special agent went to Strube’s residence in connection with the alleged threats made against the president.
The affidavit states that a consensual interview with Strube took place at the dining room table of his residence with his parents present. It further claims that during this interview, Strube admitted to posting the threats against Trump and the Obamas.
The defendant also claimed during that interview that his accounts had been hacked, the affidavit says.
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In addition to Shapiro, Trump, and the Obamas, the affidavit claims another account allegedly controlled by Strube continued the countdown toward Yom Kippur with threats against other unnamed individuals. X has also suspended that account.
When contacted by Blaze News with the allegations in the affidavit, a Secret Service spokesman said, "We are aware of the threats made in this case but do not comment on matters of protective intelligence.”
"It’s no secret that threats against Ben have increased over the past several years, requiring security to be ramped up,” a spokesman for the Daily Wire told Blaze News. “It’s an unfortunate reality of the current state of American politics. We are grateful for everyone involved in keeping Ben safe and ensuring justice is served.”
Inquiries to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, Brown County Sheriff’s Office, and the Kansas Highway Patrol to determine whether Strube has been extradited to Florida have not been answered as of publication of this article.
The White House and Department of Justice have not responded to requests for comment.
Blaze News attempted to reach the defendant via two email addresses outlined in the affidavit, but no response has been received.
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The father of Thomas Crooks has revealed chilling details about his life before he tried to assassinate President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The revelations by Matthew Crooks were reported in FBI interview summaries and other documents exclusively reviewed by the New York Post. They were from the congressional investigation into the shooting.
'Thomas did not like the welfare state and was against the "woke" ideology but never really espoused the Republican ideology.'
The father said that he never really had any strong father-son bond with Thomas, who was stoic and hard to read.
"When Thomas was born he did not scream, and he was always quiet from that point on," said the father.
Crooks said his son had a troubled childhood but that he was very intelligent. Thomas damaged school property in elementary school out of boredom, and his parents thought he had ADHD or had fallen in with a bad group of friends in middle school.
His father said he even "pushed" Thomas in hopes of prompting some kind of emotional response, and Thomas did begin to cry.
He became even quieter in high school and had trouble speaking with his teachers, according to Matthew Crooks. His son also started talking to himself, a habit that "became more noticeable over the years."
Thomas was able to score a 1400 on the SAT without studying, according to the father, and then scored a near perfect 1500 on a second try.
Thomas denied being gay many times over the years, as his parents noted that he didn't seem to have an interest in girls.
Matthew Crooks said his son developed a great interest in guns and asked if he needed to pass a background check to purchase his father's Glock. He asked if he could have his grandfather's guns but did not appear to care about hunting as a sport.
Although Thomas Crooks was a terrible marksman at first, his father says his son got far better after several years of practice. He showed off his range targets to his father, explaining that "he wanted to see how far he could shoot with rudimentary sights."
In fact, Matthew Crooks admitted he handed Thomas a Panther A-15 rifle the morning of the shooting, believing that his son was going to the shooting range, according to the Post, citing federal records.
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Matthew Crooks said Thomas was registered as a Republican, but the father believed he did so only because of his father's Republican registration. His son had a general interest in politics but was not terribly passionate about the topic.
"Thomas called himself a Republican. Thomas did not like the welfare state and was against the ‘woke’ ideology but never really espoused the Republican ideology," Matthew Crooks said.
He said his son was shocked at the events of Jan. 6 and did not think the 2020 election had been rigged. Thomas donated $15 to a progressive Democratic group in 2021.
Thomas Crooks liked rap and country music, said Matthew, who sometimes found his son dancing alone in his room.
Thomas "never showed any signs indicating something was wrong," Matthew said to investigators.
Thomas did begin buying things on Amazon, including "parts, tools, and items to increase the capacity of his rifle," eventually adopting the pseudonym "Bob Dole" for his delivery address to thwart potential hackers, his dad said.
The family is "racking" their brains trying to understand why Thomas tried to kill the president.
Trump was shot in the ear on July 13, 2024, and three rally attendees were shot behind him, one of whom died. Crooks was almost immediately shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.
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Some Democrats refuse to believe their lying eyes, no matter how many attempts are made on Donald Trump's life.
Despite a wounded Secret Service agent, a room full of witnesses evacuated from the premises, and video footage of a gunman on a rampage, a sizeable number of Democrats still do not believe anyone tried to kill President Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last month, a new poll shows.
According to a NewsGuard poll released Monday, 24% of respondents overall and 34% of Democrats believe the WHCD shooting was staged. Even 13% of Republicans believe it was staged.
Just 38% of respondents believe that all three attempts were real.
Those between the ages of 18 and 29 were the most likely to believe the event was staged.
And that's not all. The poll also revealed that many Americans — 12% of respondents — believe that all three Trump assassination attempts are fake. At 55%, Democrats represent a majority of those who hold that belief.
Just 38% of respondents believe that all three attempts were real.
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Of note, would-be assassin Thomas Crooks was shot and killed by federal agents in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, but not before he struck Trump in the ear, murdered one man, and critically injured two others.
Would-be assassin Ryan Routh is serving a life sentence in federal prison after setting up a sniper's nest near the sixth hole of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach two months after the Butler shooting.
On Monday, the same day the poll was released, suspected WHCD shooter Cole Allen pled not guilty to one count of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump, one count of assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon, and two counts of a gun charge.
Allen also faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.
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When “The Breakfast Club” host Charlamagne tha God commented on the latest assassination attempt against President Trump, he appeared to empathize with the shooter — and Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck called him out on it.
Glenn pointed out that Charlamagne's take sounded like a justification for political violence and Charlamagne went on the defense, accusing Glenn of skewing his argument and being unable to empathize with struggling Americans.
And while Glenn still is “sure” Charlamagne tha God is “a pleasant man,” he believes he had a poor response.
“You know who Glenn Beck is, right? Y’all know who Glenn Beck is, right? He was recently having a conversation on his radio show, I believe, about some of my comments in regards to the shooting that happened at the White House Correspondents' Dinner," he began.
“My comments were simple. There is no place for political violence in our society. None. I don’t condone it, but I think we do ourselves a disservice when we don’t talk about how people can become radicalized. And the reality is the Trump administration has caused so much pain to people’s everyday lives that some folks are fed up and willing to risk it all,” he continued.
“I don’t agree with vigilante justice,” he added. “I don’t think political violence is the answer, but we have to have honest conversations about how these people are being radicalized. Glenn Beck knows this.”
“I really like you,” Glenn responds, “but I think you’re an idiot on this.”
Glenn points out that while Charlamagne denounces the violence, he then uses the word “but” to say he understands it.
“You see what happens when you use the word ‘but’?” he asks, demonstrating, “‘I’m against assassination, but I can understand how one got there’ is not nuance. It’s surrender with a smile.”
“Once you grant the logic, you’ve already seated the assassin at the table of legitimate debate. There is no seat at the table for the assassin. You’ve told the next killer that his grievance is human and understandable, even if his bullet becomes regrettable,” Glenn explains.
“That’s not compassion,” he says, adding, “That is your darker self putting on a suit, calling it insight.”
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James Copenhaver, who was “wounded while protecting his family” during the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt on Donald Trump, has died, according to the president. Copenhaver died on Wednesday “surrounded by his loved ones,” his family said in a statement to Fox News. “James was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather … His family was the […]
Nicholas Roske has been assigned to a detention center that the Biden administration turned into a 'transgender' intervention facility.
A tragic moment that should have marked the apex of political violence in the U.S. two years ago has today proven to be only the tip of the iceberg in the left's assassination campaign.
Democrats don't want to accept responsibility for the consequences of their rhetoric.
A new poll finds 60% of likely voters believe the barrage of negative coverage of President Trump likely influenced the attack.
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