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Experts estimate that the hostages were murdered 48 to 72 hours ago, likely on Thursday evening or night.
The hostages were found emaciated, showing signs of the hardships endured during captivity. Gunshot wounds were identified on their heads and other parts of⌠pic.twitter.com/vVMzZFyejh
â Open Source Intel (@Osint613) September 1, 2024
Month: September 2024
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The FBI revealed new details from the investigation into the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump in a Wednesday call with media, including that the shooter engaged in âdetailed attack planningâ well in advance of the rally. But more than six weeks after the attack, investigators still havenât uncovered a motive.
The FBI has done an extensive analysis of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooksâ online search history and activity, according to Kevin Rojek, a special agent in charge of the FBIâs Pittsburgh field office who also spoke on the call. That has provided âvaluable insight into his mindset, but not a definitive motive,â Rojek said.
Investigators found a search from Crooksâ account in late September of 2023 of Trumpâs campaign schedule and upcoming Pennsylvania appearances, according to Rojek.
But Trump doesnât appear to have been the only potential target.
Rojek said between April and July of 2024, Crooks searched campaign events for both Trump and President Joe Biden, including events that were scheduled to happen in western Pennsylvania. The bureau uncovered searches on July 5 for, âWhen is the DNC convention,â and âWhen is the RNC in 2024,â apparent references to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
In the 30 days before the attack, Crooks conducted more than 60 searches related to either Biden or Trump, Rojek said.
âDetonating cord,â âblasting cap,â âhow to make a bombâ: shooter searches since 2019
Crooksâ search history suggests he may have been considering a violent attack for several years.
Rojek said as early as September 2019, and continuing into the summer of 2024, Crooks conducted multiple searches about explosive devices, including âdetonating cord,â âblasting cap,â âhow to make a bomb from fertilizer,â and âhow do remote detonators work.â Crooks also searched for ammonium nitrate, nitromethane, and other materials consistent with manufacturing explosive devices.
Law enforcement found two explosive devices in Crooksâ car.
FBI director Christopher Wray testified a couple of weeks after the shooting that the devices had receivers to enable remote detonation and law enforcement found a transmitter on the roof with Crooks. However, he also said investigators didnât believe detonation would have worked because the receivers were switched off.
Rojek said Wednesday that components Crooks used to make those devices were legal to buy and readily available online.
âNo definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or right-leaningâ
Federal investigators have been working to learn who Crooks was and why he tried to kill Trump ever since the Republican presidential nominee 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, while critically wounding two others.
Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBIâs national security branch, said on the call that the FBI not only hasnât identified a motive but also hasnât uncovered any co-conspirators or associates of Crooks who had advance knowledge of the attack.
âAnd I want to be clear, we have not seen any indication to suggest Crooks was directed by a foreign entity to conduct the attack,â Wells added.
Rojek said investigators arenât even clear whether Crooks had partisan political views. âWeâve seen no definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or right-leaning. Itâs really been a mixture and something that weâre still attempting to analyze and draw conclusions on.â
Antisemitic posts by the shooter?
Rojek also addressed testimony FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate gave before Congress on July 30 when he said investigators had found âthe first real indicationâ of extremist views and politically violent communications through a social media account they were working to verify belonged to Crooks.
Abbate mentioned more than 700 comments between 2019 and 2020, including antisemitic and anti-immigration messages, in particular.
The FBIâs assessment âis that those statements were associated with accounts associated with the subject, and we continue to work to determine if they were, in fact, attributed to the subject himself,â Rojek said.
âWhere will Trump speak from?â: preparations before attack
On July 4, just nine days before the attack, Crooks searched for details on the Butler campaign event, which took place within easy driving distance of his home. Two days later, Crooks showed an interest in a previous political assassination, searching for how far Lee Harvey Oswald was from John F. Kennedy when Oswald shot him.
Rojek described that search, which has been previously reported, on Wednesday.
He also clarified that Crooks looked into specific details about the set-up for the campaign rally. Crooks entered online searches on July 6 for, âWhere will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show,â âButler Farm Show podium,â and âButler Farm Show photos.â Rojek said those were exact quotes, but didnât clarify what the spelling, punctuation, or capitalization looked like.
Crooks also searched for âballistic calculatorâ on July 9 and looked up the weather in Butler on July 10, Rojek said.
Family âextremely cooperative,â have received Crooksâ body
Rojek clarified that the FBI remains in contact with Crooksâ family members, who he said have been âextremely cooperative.â
Law enforcement released Crooksâ body to them after Pennsylvaniaâs Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police both agreed with the Butler County Coronerâs Officeâs decision to release the remains.
âI want to stress that it is not standard procedure or practice for the FBI or any law enforcement agency to request that the coroner or medical examiner maintain indefinite custody of a deceased subjectâs body once the investigative purposes of our agency and our partner agencies are completed,â he said.
Autopsy and toxicology reports indicated Crooks wasnât on drugs or alcohol when he died, and that he was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head, Rojek said. Crooks was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. EDT on July 13.
Encrypted email accounts accessed, Trump briefed on investigation
Rojek said Crooks had overseas encrypted email accounts, but the level of encryption wasnât more sophisticated than any standard, widely used email service thatâs internet-based. He said the FBI has successfully accessed those accounts and analyzed their contents, although it is continuing to âidentify and exploitâ Crooksâ accounts more broadly.
At a July congressional hearing, FBI and Secret Service officials said law enforcement identified Crooks as suspicious well before the attack and shared a photograph of him nearly an hour before he opened fire at about 6:11 p.m. EDT. A local officer radioed seeing Crooks on the roof from which he opened fire with âa long gunâ about 30 seconds in advance.
Investigators previously revealed Crooks used an âAR-style 556â rifle in the attack. That weapon was and is operational, Rojek said Wednesday. He confirmed the FBI successfully test-fired it and also matched the casings found on the roof to the rifle.
During a standard victim interview with Trump, the FBI and the Pennsylvania State Police provided the Republican presidential nominee âwith an in-depth briefing on the investigationâ and answered his questions, Rojek said.
Since the assassination attempt, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned under intense pressure over the failure to protect Trump at the campaign event. Members of Congress and the wider public have continued to press the service about how Crooks was able to obtain a line of fire on Trump.
Investigators have conducted nearly 1,000 interviews in total, in addition to issuing dozens of subpoenas and analyzing hundreds of hours of video footage, according to Rojek.
The post FBI shares new details in investigation of Donald Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks first appeared on The Brooklyn Times – The News And Times.
FBI shares new details on Trump shooter in rally assassination attempt https://t.co/qbGiwNhYuS
â Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) September 1, 2024
new information about the investigation into Thomas Matthew Crooks – Google Search https://t.co/20IEtOO2xw
â Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) September 1, 2024
September 1: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
A daily roundup of historical events as far back as 1841 reported by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle for each day of the week.
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â SPIES&VESPERS (@SpiesVespers) September 1, 2024
The post @SpiesVespers: @spclsmthin This is very consistent. Iâm convinced this is the work of a stylist making an anti-fashion, anti-fancy-fancy statement. first appeared on JOSSICA – The Journal of the Open Source Strategic Intelligence and Counterintelligence Analysis.
@SpiesVespers: https://t.co/LI4J3NeJ3J
â SPIES&VESPERS (@SpiesVespers) September 1, 2024
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Yes. Exactly âas advertised.â So Iâm good with that..
â SPIES&VESPERS (@SpiesVespers) September 1, 2024
The post @SpiesVespers: @Pulpcurry Yes. Exactly âas advertised.â So Iâm good with that.. first appeared on JOSSICA – The Journal of the Open Source Strategic Intelligence and Counterintelligence Analysis.
The post ХинŃĐşĐžĐ˛ĐşŃ ĐżĐžĐ´ ĐŃĐżŃĐ˝ŃкОП ĐžŃвОйОдиНи ŃоваŃŃОпОНŃŃŃ â Đ¸Ń ĐżĐžĐˇĐ´ŃавиН ĐоНОŃŃОв first appeared on The Russian World.
Azerbaijan holds a parliamentary election expected to retain the presidential partyâs dominance https://t.co/PXnFN3WZHz
â The Associated Press (@AP) September 1, 2024
The post @AP: Azerbaijan holds a parliamentary election expected to retain the presidential partyâs dominance https://t.co/PXnFN3WZHz first appeared on Links – The News And Times.