Almost two weeks after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, many questions remain unanswered. What was the motive of the 20-year-old shooter? How did he do it? The FBI is providing initial answers.
According to the FBI, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who opened fire at a campaign event for former US President Donald Trump a week and a half ago, searched the internet for details about the murder of John F. Kennedy before committing the crime. The FBI analysis of the 20-year-old’s laptop revealed that he wanted to find out how far away Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was when he shot then-President Kennedy in 1963. FBI chief Christopher Wray said this in a hearing on the Trump assassination before the House Judiciary Committee.
The Trump shooter searched for this information online on July 6, Wray said. That was the day he registered for the Trump event in the town of Butler, Pennsylvania. “On July 6, he did a Google search for: ‘How far was Oswald from Kennedy?'” Wray said.
FBI: Shooter flew drone
Crooks also flew a drone about 180 meters from the stage just a few hours before Trump appeared, the FBI chief said. It was in the air for about eleven minutes and was later found in the shooter’s car, according to CNN.
In the attempted assassination, one bystander was killed and two others were seriously wounded. Trump was injured in the ear. The perpetrator was killed by security forces.
Secret Service chief resigns
In recent days, there had been strong criticism of the Secret Service’s actions because Crooks was able to get onto a roof with a direct view of the stage despite all the security measures. On Tuesday, the head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, finally resigned (the star reported). Cheatle admitted on Monday at a hearing before a committee in the US Congress that her agency, which is responsible for protecting current and former presidents, had “failed” in the assassination attempt on Trump.
She spoke of the “most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.” As head of the agency, she takes “full responsibility for any security breach.”
US Congress forms investigative committee
Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives has voted to form a bipartisan committee to investigate the assassination. The decision to pass a resolution was made unanimously, US media reported. The aim is to “understand what went wrong on the day of the assassination attempt” and “to prevent such a failure of authority from ever happening again,” Republican Chairman Mike Johnson and Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had previously announced.
The task force is to submit a final report on its findings by December 13, including recommendations for possible changes to the law to prevent future security breaches. The appointments for the committee will be announced this Thursday, Johnson told CNN. The working group will consist of seven Republicans and six Democrats, it said. Among other things, they will be given the power to issue subpoenas.