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Trump rally gunman looked online for information about Kennedy assassination, FBI director says

Trump rally gunman looked online for information about Kennedy assassination, FBI director says
Good morning, Chairman Jordan, ranking member Nadler members of the committee. Uh I want to begin by offering my condolences on the passing representative Jackson Lee who served the people of Texas in this body and on this committee for so long, thank you all for your support of our efforts to protect the American people and uphold the constitution. I am proud to be here today representing the 38,000 special agents, intelligence analysts and professional staff who make up the FBI men and women who every day work relentlessly to counter the most complex threat environment I've seen in my tenure as FBI director maybe in my entire career in law enforcement before I go any further. I also want to acknowledge and offer my deepest condolences to the victims of the horrific assassination attempt in Butler County, to the friends and family of Coy comparator who by all accounts lost his life, protecting others from danger to the other victims, two of whom were critically wounded and of course, of course to President Trump, former President Trump and his family, as I've said from the beginning, the attempted assassination of the former president was an attack on our democracy and our democratic process. And we will not, and do not tolerate political violence of any kind, especially *** despicable account of this magnitude. And I want to assure you and the American people that the men and women of the FBI will continue to work tirelessly to get to the bottom of what happened. We are bringing all the resources of the FBI to bear both criminal and national security. Now, there's *** whole lot of work underway and still *** lot of work to do and our understanding of what happened and why will continue to evolve. But we're going to leave no stone unturned. The shooter may be deceased but the FB I's investigation is very much ongoing to that point. I also want to acknowledge that I recognize both the congressional and the public interest in this case and the importance of this investigation to the American people. And I understand there are *** lot of open questions. So while the investigation is very much ongoing and our assessments of the shooter and his actions continue to evolve. My hope here today is to do my best to provide you with all the information I can given where we are at this point. I have been saying for some time now that we are living in an elevated threat environment and tragically, the Butler County assassination attempt is another example, *** particularly heinous and very public. One of what I've been talking about but it also reinforces our need at the FBI and our ongoing commitment to stay focused on the threats on the mission and on the people we do the work with and the people we do the work for every day all across this country. And indeed around the world, the men and women of the FBI are doing just that working around the clock to counter the threats we face just in the last year. For example, in California, the FBI and our partners targeted an organized crime syndicate responsible for trafficking fentaNYL meth and cocaine all across North America. We charged the Mexican based suppliers who brought the drugs into the United States. *** network of Canada based truck drivers who delivered the drugs and the distributors in the United States who spread the poison into our communities. Staying on threats emanating from the border. I have warned for some time now about the threat that foreign terrorists may seek to exploit our Southwest border or some other port of entry to advance *** plot against Americans. Just last month. For instance, the Bureau and our joint terrorism task forces worked with IC in multiple cities across the country. As several individuals with suspected international terrorist ties were arrested using ISIS immigration authorities leading up to those arrests, hundreds of FBI employees dedicated countless hours to understand the threat and identify additional individuals of concern. Now, the physical security of the border is of course not in the fbi's Lane. But as the threat has escalated, we're working with our partners in law enforcement and the intelligence community to find and stop foreign terrorists who would harm Americans and our interests.
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Trump rally gunman looked online for information about Kennedy assassination, FBI director says
The gunman in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump is believed to have done a Google search one week before the shooting of “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday, revealing new details about a suspect he said had taken a keen interest in public figures but had otherwise not left behind clear clues of an ideological motive.The July 6 online search, recovered from a laptop tied to 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, is a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooter who killed President John F. Kennedy from a sniper's perch in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963."That's a search obviously that is significant in terms of his state of mind. That is the same day that it appears that he registered" for the Trump rally scheduled for July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, Wray told the House Judiciary Committee.The FBI is investigating the shooting, which killed one rallygoer and seriously injured two others, as an act of domestic terrorism. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service countersniper. The investigation has thrust the bureau into a political maelstrom months before the presidential election, with lawmakers and the public pressing for details about what may have motivated Crooks in the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.The agency has built out a detailed timeline of Crooks' movements and online activity, but the precise motive — or why Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was singled out — remains elusive, Wray said.Video below: FBI Director Christopher Wray says Trump rally shooter Google searched details of Lee Harvey Oswald and JFK assassination “In terms of what we've been able to find so far, a lot of the usual repositories of information have not yielded anything notable in terms of motive or ideology,” Wray said.The FBI's assessment continues to be that Crooks acted alone, though agents are still investigating.Wray noted that Crooks had grown interested in public officials — besides Trump, Crooks also had photos on his phone of Democratic President Joe Biden and other prominent figures — and in the days before the shooting had appeared particularly consumed by Trump and the Butler rally.Crooks is believed to have visited the rally site a week before the event, staying for about 20 minutes, and then returned on the morning of July 13. More than two hours before the shooting, Wray said, Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards from the rally stage for about 11 minutes, using the device to livestream and watch footage and obtain what Wray said would have been a “rearview mirror” of the scene behind him.The use of the drone, which along with a controller were recovered from Crooks' car, so close to the rally site just hours before Trump took the stage add to the questions about the security lapses that preceded the shooting.On the afternoon of the rally, Crooks attracted law enforcement scrutiny because of odd behavior around the edges of the event, including shouldering a backpack and peering into the lens of a range finder toward the rooftops behind the stage where Trump would stand within the hour.Using what Wray said was mechanical equipment on the ground and vertical piping, Crooks was able to hoist himself up onto the roof of a squat manufacturing building that was within 135 meters (157 yards) of the stage. Crooks fired eight shots from an AR-style rifle before he was killed. (The Warren Commission report that analyzed the Kennedy assassination assessed that Kennedy had been shot through the neck at a range of 174.9 feet to 190.8 feet, or about 53.3 meters to 58.1 meters.)The FBI thinks Crooks may have managed to avoid detection in the crowd despite being armed because his weapon had a collapsible folding stock, Wray said.Wray pledged to lawmakers that the FBI would “leave no stone unturned” in its investigation.“I have been saying for some time now that we are living in an elevated threat environment, and tragically the Butler County assassination attempt is another example — a particularly heinous and very public one — of what I have been talking about,” Wray said.The hearing had been schedule well before the shooting as part of the committee’s routine oversight of the FBI and the Justice Department. Questions about the shooting dominated the session, but other topics included the FBI's diversity efforts, election interference and the Jan 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.Though the FBI so far has avoided the same level of scrutiny over the shooting directed at the Secret Service over security failures, culminating Tuesday in the resignation of Kimberly Cheatle as the agency's director, Wray was not able to entirely avoid the antagonistic questions he typically receives from the Republican-led committee.That's a reflection of the lingering perception among some GOP lawmakers that the FBI and Justice Department in the Biden administration have become politicized against Trump — something Wray has consistently denied.That sentiment was made clear early in the hearing when the committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Wray: “I’m sure you understand that a significant portion of the country has a healthy skepticism regarding the FBI’s ability to conduct a fair, honest, open and transparent investigation.”

The gunman in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump is believed to have done a Google search one week before the shooting of “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday, revealing new details about a suspect he said had taken a keen interest in public figures but had otherwise not left behind clear clues of an ideological motive.

The July 6 online search, recovered from a laptop tied to 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, is a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooter who killed President John F. Kennedy from a sniper's perch in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

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"That's a search obviously that is significant in terms of his state of mind. That is the same day that it appears that he registered" for the Trump rally scheduled for July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, Wray told the House Judiciary Committee.

The FBI is investigating the shooting, which killed one rallygoer and seriously injured two others, as an act of domestic terrorism. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service countersniper. The investigation has thrust the bureau into a political maelstrom months before the presidential election, with lawmakers and the public pressing for details about what may have motivated Crooks in the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.

The agency has built out a detailed timeline of Crooks' movements and online activity, but the precise motive — or why Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was singled out — remains elusive, Wray said.

Video below: FBI Director Christopher Wray says Trump rally shooter Google searched details of Lee Harvey Oswald and JFK assassination

“In terms of what we've been able to find so far, a lot of the usual repositories of information have not yielded anything notable in terms of motive or ideology,” Wray said.

The FBI's assessment continues to be that Crooks acted alone, though agents are still investigating.

Wray noted that Crooks had grown interested in public officials — besides Trump, Crooks also had photos on his phone of Democratic President Joe Biden and other prominent figures — and in the days before the shooting had appeared particularly consumed by Trump and the Butler rally.

Crooks is believed to have visited the rally site a week before the event, staying for about 20 minutes, and then returned on the morning of July 13. More than two hours before the shooting, Wray said, Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards from the rally stage for about 11 minutes, using the device to livestream and watch footage and obtain what Wray said would have been a “rearview mirror” of the scene behind him.

The use of the drone, which along with a controller were recovered from Crooks' car, so close to the rally site just hours before Trump took the stage add to the questions about the security lapses that preceded the shooting.

On the afternoon of the rally, Crooks attracted law enforcement scrutiny because of odd behavior around the edges of the event, including shouldering a backpack and peering into the lens of a range finder toward the rooftops behind the stage where Trump would stand within the hour.

Using what Wray said was mechanical equipment on the ground and vertical piping, Crooks was able to hoist himself up onto the roof of a squat manufacturing building that was within 135 meters (157 yards) of the stage. Crooks fired eight shots from an AR-style rifle before he was killed. (The Warren Commission report that analyzed the Kennedy assassination assessed that Kennedy had been shot through the neck at a range of 174.9 feet to 190.8 feet, or about 53.3 meters to 58.1 meters.)

The FBI thinks Crooks may have managed to avoid detection in the crowd despite being armed because his weapon had a collapsible folding stock, Wray said.

Wray pledged to lawmakers that the FBI would “leave no stone unturned” in its investigation.

“I have been saying for some time now that we are living in an elevated threat environment, and tragically the Butler County assassination attempt is another example — a particularly heinous and very public one — of what I have been talking about,” Wray said.

The hearing had been schedule well before the shooting as part of the committee’s routine oversight of the FBI and the Justice Department. Questions about the shooting dominated the session, but other topics included the FBI's diversity efforts, election interference and the Jan 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Though the FBI so far has avoided the same level of scrutiny over the shooting directed at the Secret Service over security failures, culminating Tuesday in the resignation of Kimberly Cheatle as the agency's director, Wray was not able to entirely avoid the antagonistic questions he typically receives from the Republican-led committee.

That's a reflection of the lingering perception among some GOP lawmakers that the FBI and Justice Department in the Biden administration have become politicized against Trump — something Wray has consistently denied.

That sentiment was made clear early in the hearing when the committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Wray: “I’m sure you understand that a significant portion of the country has a healthy skepticism regarding the FBI’s ability to conduct a fair, honest, open and transparent investigation.”