Topline
Former President Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed by the FBI as part of the agency’s investigation into his assassination attempt, the agency said Monday, following the release of new details about the gunman, including internet searches that suggest he had an interest in mass shootings.
The agency confirmed last week the former president was struck by a bullet during an assassination … [+]
Key Facts
Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said Trump will participate in a “standard victim interview” with the FBI “to get his perspective on what he observed,” according to multiple outlets.
The FBI confirmed Friday that what struck Trump was “a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces,” following earlier testimony before the House Judiciary Committee by FBI Director Christopher Wray, who said the agency had not determined conclusively whether he was hit by a bullet or shrapnel.
Investigators have accessed internet searches by the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, including searches about “power plants, mass shooting events,” details on “improvised explosive devices” and the attempted assassination of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico earlier this year, Rojek said.
Since spring of last year, Crooks made more than 25 different firearms-related purchases by using an alias, Rojek said, adding Crooks also made “six chemical precursor-related purchases” used to create explosives that were recovered in Crooks’ home and vehicle.
Rojek said the FBI has not determined Crooks’ motive for the shooting, though he suggested Crook had a “limited” social life and he made “significant efforts” to conceal his efforts, which included “careful planning” ahead of Trump’s campaign rally.
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Chief Critic
Trump has criticized the FBI’s investigation into his assassination attempt, claiming the FBI “never even checked” what grazed his ear. He also suggested there was no glass or shrapnel in his ear, while calling on Wray to resign over his comments claiming otherwise. Ronny Jackson, Trump’s former primary care physician, said there is “absolutely no evidence that it was anything other than a bullet,” citing an evaluation—which has not been made public—from the Pennsylvania hospital where Trump was treated after the shooting. Jackson also said Wray was “wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.”
Key Background
Trump fell to the ground during a rally north of Pittsburgh after a shot grazed his right ear. One man was killed and two others were seriously injured in the shooting, in addition to Crooks, who allegedly used an AR-style rifle. Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle—who resigned following criticism of the agency’s security lapses—testified last week Crooks was identified as “suspicious,” but not a “threat” at the rally. Wray said last week the FBI uncovered internet searches by Crooks in the week leading up to the shooting, including a Google search to determine how far Lee Harvey Oswald was from President John F. Kennedy when he shot him in Dallas in 1963. Investigators also found two “relatively crude” explosive devices in Crooks’ vehicles, Wray said.
