Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Director Christopher Wray told members of Congress on Wednesday that the man who fired at former President Donald Trump during his rally on July 13 flew a drone over the area just hours before he took the stage.
Wray told the House Judiciary Committee that the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, flew the drone over the area as late as around 3:50 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the day of the shooting. Trump was originally scheduled to begin speaking at 5 p.m.
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Wray said the drone was not flown over the stage but approximately 200 yards away from the stage. He added that Crooks may have been live-streaming video from the drone.
“We think but we do not know — again, these are one of those things that’s qualified because of our ongoing review — that he was live-streaming, you know, viewing the footage from that again about 11 minutes and around the 3:50, 4 p.m. range … about 200 yards away,” Wray said.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is covered by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
He said the drone was recovered from Crooks’s car and was being exploited for intelligence.
Wray also said the FBI has recovered three explosive devices — two from his car and one from his home. Wray said the explosives were “relatively crude devices” but had the ability to be detonated remotely.
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He said the FBI also recovered receivers for the explosive devices recovered from his vehicle, and a transmitter recovered on the shooter. Wray said it appears that judging from the on/off buttons on the receivers, if Crooks had tried to detonate the explosives from the roof, he would not have been able to.
Wray said once the FBI was able to get into Crooks’s encrypted phone, they discovered he was using encrypted messaging applications. He said this “has now become unfortunately become very commonplace.”
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents on stage at a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Wray said the FBI has not yet developed any evidence to suggest there are any accomplices.
“But again, the investigation is ongoing,” he said.
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