FBI Director Reveals New Details about Trump Shooter, but Motive Remains Elusive

Following former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s guarded testimony earlier in the week that revealed little if any details on the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday and disclosed new details about the actions that 20-year-old shooter Thomas Crooks took on July 13 in Baker, Pa., while admitting that a clear motive for the attack had not yet been uncovered.

Wray noted that there are currently multiple investigations underway to piece together a full picture of how Crooks was able to evade law enforcement officials and open fire on the former president, and that the ongoing FBI investigation is focusing on looking into Crooks’s background and possible motives. However, the FBI director did reveal multiple new pieces of information, including that the shooter was able to fire off eight rounds before being killed by Secret Service snipers. Wray stated that the FBI is currently investigating how Crooks was able to get off so many rounds before being stopped.

Additionally, Wray related that “there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit [Trump’s] ear. … I don’t know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else.”

Wray also revealed that Crooks used a drone to survey the area about 200 yards away from the stage roughly two hours before Trump took the stage. “We think … that he was live-streaming, viewing the footage” on his phone for about 11 minutes and was likely trying to observe the area behind the rooftop where he carried out the shooting, he stated. The director also said that two “relatively crude” explosive devices were found in Crooks’s car, and that a remote detonator was found on the shooter’s body. “At the moment, it looks like … if he had tried to detonate those devices from the roof, it would not have worked, but that doesn’t mean the explosives weren’t dangerous,” Wray observed.

As to how Crooks was able to conceal the AR-style rifle used in the attack from rally attendees and law enforcement, Wray disclosed that the gun had a collapsible stock. He noted that the FBI had yet to find any witnesses who say they saw Crooks with the weapon while still on the ground.

Another detail that Wray divulged came from Crooks’s laptop, in which it was discovered through FBI analysis that the 20-year-old had performed a Google search for “how far away was Oswald from Kennedy” one week prior to the Butler rally. “That’s a search that obviously is significant in terms of his state of mind,” Wray pointed out. The director also noted that on that same day, Crooks registered to attend the rally.

Wray further stated the Crooks, who lived with his parents in Bethel Park, Pa., has been described as a “loner” by those who knew him, and that the list of contacts on his phone was much shorter than what the FBI expected. As to whether Crooks acted alone or had accomplices in his attack, Wray said that there is currently no evidence of co-conspirators, but that investigators remain “intensely focused” on whether the would-be assassin contacted anyone before the shooting.

As to Crooks’s precise motive for carrying out the attack, the director stated that the FBI did “not yet have a clear picture” of it. He shared that no manifesto had been uncovered, and that searches of Crooks’s devices and online accounts “have not yet yielded anything notable in terms of motive or ideology.”

Wray disclosed that the day before the shooting, Crooks went to a gun range and fired rounds with a rifle, likely the same one that he used in the attack. The day of the rally, Crooks purchased 50 rounds of ammunition. Wray also pointed out that Crooks was “for some reason” in possession of three explosive devices — two found in his car and one at his residence. “What else he may have had in mind is something that I think is very much of an open question,” Wray noted.

In comments to The Washington Stand, Family Research Council’s Senior Fellow for National Security Lt. Col. (Ret.) Bob Maginnis expressed doubt that Crooks planned to carry out a large-scale attack.

“Evidently, given that the shooter fired eight rounds at Trump, he intended to kill the former president,” he observed. “No other logical explanation. He would not have been on the roof of the building had he just wanted to kill random people to create a mass casualty event. Clearly, he targeted Trump.”