Topline
The gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump searched on his laptop one week before the shooting, “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy,” FBI director Christopher Wray said in congressional testimony Wednesday, as more information comes in on the 20-year-old shooter, whose motive remains unclear.
The alleged gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump had remote-operated … [+]
Key Facts
Wray said in recent days, the FBI found that on July 6, one week before the assassination attempt, shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks conducted a Google search on his laptop to determine how far assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was from President John F. Kennedy when he shot him in Dallas in 1963.
Wray added FBI investigators also determined two explosive devices were found in Crooks’ vehicle, calling those devices “relatively crude,” though they could have been detonated remotely and Crooks had a transmitter.
Crooks also operated a drone roughly 200 yards from the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, which may have broadcast a livestream roughly two hours before Trump took the stage, Wray said.
Wray said Crooks’ motive, however, remains unknown.
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Crucial Quote
When asked about recent violent political acts, including an attack on the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Wray said: “There’s an alarming phenomenon that we’ve seen over the last several years of that kind of passion and heated rhetoric turning into actual violence and threats of violence.”
Tangent
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday following heavy criticism of the agency’s security measures at the rally, saying she took “full responsibility for the security lapse.” Cheatle’s resignation came just one day after lawmakers from both parties criticized her handling of the Secret Service, with House Oversight Committee chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., and the committee’s lead Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., penning a joint statement slamming Cheatle for having “failed to provide answers to basic questions regarding that stunning operational failure.” Cheatle had admitted in that hearing the assassination attempt marked the agency’s “most significant operational failure.”
Key Background
Trump fell to the ground as a shot grazed his right ear during the July 13 rally north of Pittsburgh. One man was killed and two other people in the crowd were seriously wounded during the shooting. Trump stood up soon after, pumping his fist in the air and appearing to shout, “fight.” The shooter was later identified as Crooks, a 20-year-old registered Republican who had donated to a Democratic organization and was not previously on the FBI’s radar—though Cheatle said Monday he was identified as “suspicious,” but not a “threat” at the rally site. Crooks, who allegedly used an AR-style rifle in the shooting, had recently searched for information on Trump’s rally and had written on gaming platform Steam, “July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds,” according to investigators.
Further Reading
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