Wannabe assassin considered targets besides Trump, FBI says

Former President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin researched numerous campaign events in the weeks before the shooting last month, the FBI said Wednesday. Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, fired on Trump while the former president was speaking to a crowd near Butler, Penn., on July 13. Crooks grazed Trump’s right ear with a bullet and shot two rally attendees, killing one. A U.S. Secret Service countersniper killed Crooks just moments after he opened fire. Other Secret Service agents hustled Trump off the stage and into a nearby motorcade.

Is the FBI saying Crooks may not have targeted Trump out of hatred? The FBI has not yet determined Crooks’ motive, the head of the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office Kevin Rojek said. Investigators did discover that Crooks conducted more than 60 internet searches for campaign events involving both President Joe Biden and former President Trump in the month before the shooting, Rojek noted. Crooks specifically researched campaign events occurring in western Pennsylvania but also checked when the Democratic and Republican National Conventions would take place, Rojek said.

Has the FBI discovered if there were any co-conspirators? The FBI had not uncovered any evidence that anyone else helped Crooks plan his attack, Rojek said. The day he registered for Trump’s Butler rally, Crooks began researching how far accused shooter Lee Harvey Oswald was from President John F. Kennedy when the president was assassinated in 1963. Crooks also began researching the Butler rally venue and where Trump would be standing during the rally that day. Crooks later researched the location of the rooftop he would eventually perch on to fire at Trump and looked up a weather forecast for the area, Rojek said.

What else has the FBI said about the investigation lately? The FBI released photos on Wednesday of the rifle that Crooks used to fire on Trump and the other rally attendees. The agency also showed a backpack that it said Crooks likely used to hide the disassembled rifle, and improvised explosive devices Crooks had in a parked vehicle near the rally.