Month: September 2024

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 “detailed attack planning” well in advance of the rally. But more than six weeks after the attack, investigators still haven’t uncovered a motive.

The FBI has done an extensive analysis of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks‘ online search history and activity, according to Kevin Rojek, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office who also spoke on the call. That has provided “valuable insight into his mindset, but not a definitive motive,” Rojek said.

Investigators found a search from Crooks’ account in late September of 2023 of Trump’s campaign schedule and upcoming Pennsylvania appearances, according to Rojek.

But Trump doesn’t 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, “When is the DNC convention,” and “When is the RNC in 2024,” 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.

‘Detonating cord,’ ‘blasting cap,’ ‘how to make a bomb’: shooter searches since 2019

Crooks’ 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 “detonating cord,” “blasting cap,” “how to make a bomb from fertilizer,” and “how do remote detonators work.” Crooks also searched for ammonium nitrate, nitromethane, and other materials consistent with manufacturing explosive devices.

Law enforcement found two explosive devices in Crooks’ 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 didn’t 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.

‘No definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or right-leaning’

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 FBI’s national security branch, said on the call that the FBI not only hasn’t identified a motive but also hasn’t uncovered any co-conspirators or associates of Crooks who had advance knowledge of the attack.

“And I want to be clear, we have not seen any indication to suggest Crooks was directed by a foreign entity to conduct the attack,” Wells added.

Rojek said investigators aren’t even clear whether Crooks had partisan political views. “We’ve seen no definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or right-leaning. It’s really been a mixture and something that we’re still attempting to analyze and draw conclusions on.”

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 “the first real indication” 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 FBI’s assessment “is 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,” Rojek said.

‘Where will Trump speak from?’: 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, “Where will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show,” “Butler Farm Show podium,” and “Butler Farm Show photos.” Rojek said those were exact quotes, but didn’t clarify what the spelling, punctuation, or capitalization looked like.

Crooks also searched for “ballistic calculator” on July 9 and looked up the weather in Butler on July 10, Rojek said.

Family ‘extremely cooperative,’ have received Crooks’ body

Rojek clarified that the FBI remains in contact with Crooks’ family members, who he said have been “extremely cooperative.”

Law enforcement released Crooks’ body to them after Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County Office of the Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police both agreed with the Butler County Coroner’s Office’s decision to release the remains.

“I 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 subject’s body once the investigative purposes of our agency and our partner agencies are completed,” he said.

Autopsy and toxicology reports indicated Crooks wasn’t 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 wasn’t more sophisticated than any standard, widely used email service that’s internet-based. He said the FBI has successfully accessed those accounts and analyzed their contents, although it is continuing to “identify and exploit” Crooks’ 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 “a long gun” about 30 seconds in advance.

Investigators previously revealed Crooks used an ‘AR-style 556’ 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 “with an in-depth briefing on the investigation” 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.