Secret Service director questioned about Trump assassination attempt
On the day Donald Trump was nearly assassinated, lawmakers questioned the Secret Service director about protocol errors.
In a phone call with the media on Wednesday, the FBI revealed new details from the investigation into the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Among other things, it said that the shooter had drawn up “detailed attack plans” long before the rally. But more than six weeks after the attack, investigators have still not found a motive.
The FBI has conducted an extensive analysis of Crooks’ search history and online activity, said Kevin Rojek, a special agent in the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office who also participated in the call. This provided “valuable insight into his mindset, but no clear motive,” Rojek said.
According to Rojek, investigators searching Crooks’ account in late September 2023 found information about Trump’s campaign schedule and upcoming appearances in Pennsylvania.
But Trump does not seem to have been the only potential target.
Rojek said Crooks searched campaign events for both Trump and President Joe Biden between April and July 2024, including events scheduled to take place in Western Pennsylvania. The office uncovered searches on July 5 for “when is the DNC convention” and “when is the RNC in 2024,” apparent references to the Democratic and Republican conventions ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“Fuse”, “Detonator”, “How to Build a Bomb”: Search for Shooter
Crook’s search history suggests he may have been considering a violent attack for several years.
Rojek said Crooks conducted several searches for explosive devices as early as September 2019 and into the summer of 2024, including “detonating cord,” “detonating cap,” “how to make a bomb out of fertilizer,” and “how remote detonators work.” Crooks also searched for ammonium nitrate, nitromethane, and other materials consistent with making explosive devices.
Police found two explosive devices in Crooks’ car. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified a few weeks after the shooting that the devices had receivers that allowed for remote detonation, and police found a transmitter on Crooks’ roof. However, he also said investigators did not believe the detonation would have worked because the receivers were turned off.
“There is no definitive ideology associated with our topic, neither left nor right.”
Federal investigators have been trying to determine who 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was and why he tried to kill Trump since the Republican presidential candidate took a bullet to the ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Crooks also killed rally attendee and father of two Corey Comperatore and seriously injured two other people.
Robert Wells, deputy director of the FBI’s national security division, said in the phone call that the FBI had not only failed to determine a motive, but had also failed to identify any co-conspirators or accomplices of the Crooks who had prior knowledge of the attack.
“And I want to make it clear that we have seen no evidence whatsoever that Crooks was hired by a foreign entity to carry out the attack,” Wells added.
Rojek said investigators were not even clear whether Crooks had partisan political views.
“We haven’t seen a clear ideology associated with our issue, neither left nor right. It’s really a mix and something we’re still trying to analyze and draw conclusions from.”
At a congressional hearing in July, FBI and Secret Service officials said police identified Crooks as a suspect long before the attack and released a photograph of him nearly an hour before he opened fire at about 6:11 p.m. EDT. A local officer radioed that he had seen Crooks on the roof about 30 seconds earlier, from where he opened fire with “a long gun.”
In the first hours and days after the shooting, investigators said Crooks appeared to have acted alone and they could not determine a motive for the attack. They said he used an “AR-style 556” rifle, which was found next to Crooks’ body after he was shot multiple times.
Since the assassination, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned under intense pressure for failing to protect Trump at the campaign rally. Members of Congress and the general public continue to press the agency about how Crooks managed to target Trump.
