Thomas Michael Crooks additionally managed to fly a drone across the rally web site with out being detected, Christopher Wray informed Congress
Would-be murderer Thomas Michael Crooks researched the assassination of John F Kennedy earlier than opening fireplace on former President Donald Trump earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray informed lawmakers on Wednesday.
Crooks shot Trump within the ear throughout a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. Firing from a rooftop that Trump’s Secret Service element had inexplicably left unguarded, the 20-year-old gunman killed one individual within the viewers and injured two others earlier than Secret Service snipers shot him lifeless.
Testifying earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Wray mentioned that an FBI examination of Crooks’ laptop revealed that he started researching the JFK assassination on July 6, the identical day he registered to attend the Trump rally.
“He did a Google seek for – quote – ‘how distant was Oswald from Kennedy’,” Wray mentioned, referring to Lee Harvey Oswald, the gunman accused of capturing Kennedy in 1963.
“That’s a search that’s clearly important when it comes to his mind-set,” Wray mentioned, including that Crooks had turn out to be “very targeted on President Trump and his rally” on the time.
Wray’s testimony shed little gentle on Crooks’ motivation. The FBI chief insisted that the shooter was not involved with any accomplices or co-conspirators, and didn’t speculate about his political leanings. Earlier than changing into fixated on Trump, Crooks did “loads of searches of public figures normally,” Wray mentioned, warning that “it’s, fairly frankly, a harmful time to be a outstanding public official.”
Wray didn’t touch upon what number of Secret Service snipers have been current on the rally, nor did he touch upon allegations that the company had pulled some workers from Trump’s element earlier than the occasion. Wray did, nevertheless, reveal that Crooks visited the positioning in Butler on three events, and on the day of the rally “was flying the drone across the space” simply two hours earlier than Trump took to the stage.
Republicans have fiercely criticized the Secret Service for failing to safe Crooks’ rooftop vantage level, regardless of it being round 150 meters from the stage, and for apparently disregarding experiences of an armed Crooks crawling round on the roof minutes earlier than opening fireplace.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, a day after telling the Oversight Committee that she took accountability for the “most important operational failure on the Secret Service in many years.”