Nonetheless, FBI officers careworn on Wednesday that the motive for the assassination try was not but identified and mentioned the 20-year-old attacker, Thomas Crooks, had a “mixture of many ideologies.”
The FBI launched pictures of Crooks' search historical past, together with the gun he used and do-it-yourself explosives present in his automotive.
Crooks tried to shoot the previous president at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13. A bullet grazed Trump's ear within the assault that left one particular person lifeless and two others significantly injured.
Kevin Rojek, head of the FBI's Pittsburgh workplace, mentioned Crooks started looking the web for Trump marketing campaign occasions beginning in September 2023.
The attacker searched occasions for each Trump and President Joe Biden, who was nonetheless the Democratic nominee on the time of the incident, and likewise seemed on the areas of each the Republican and Democratic nationwide conventions.
“Crooks was hyper-focused on the Trump rally when it was introduced in early July and noticed it as a chance,” Rojek mentioned.
Rojek mentioned Crooks registered for the Trump rally per week prematurely.
Supply: FBI
The 20-year-old additionally did analysis on the assassination of former US President John F. Kennedy the identical day, in search of how shut Lee Harvey Oswald, who carried out the assassination, was to the previous president.
Crooks additionally sought solutions to questions on the place Trump would converse on the occasion, and authorities mentioned the attacker's web search historical past additionally confirmed he was looking for bomb-making directions and supplies.
“We imagine the person was planning an elaborate assault,” Rojek mentioned.
FBI officers mentioned they have been persevering with to assessment Crooks' on-line presence. “We don't see any definitive ideology, both left or right-leaning,” Rojek mentioned.
Crooks, a registered Republican, donated $15 to ActBlue, a liberal marketing campaign group that’s elevating cash for a Democratic major in 2021.
Authorities mentioned some anti-Semitic feedback on-line have been “related to accounts believed to belong to Crooks” and that they have been working to find out whether or not he wrote them.
The FBI beforehand mentioned Crooks had at the least two social media accounts that displayed conflicting ideological views, the contents of which haven’t been made public.
Crooks stood on the roof of a close-by constructing for about six minutes on the Pennsylvania rally earlier than being killed by a sniper who fired eight pictures at Trump as he spoke on stage.
FBI officers additionally responded to criticism at Wednesday's information convention that the crime scene was cleaned up and Crooks' physique was returned to his household too shortly.
Rojek mentioned commonplace procedures have been adopted in cleansing up the crime scene and that Crooks' physique was returned after the post-mortem was accomplished.
An post-mortem discovered no traces of unlawful medicine or alcohol in Crooks' system. The FBI mentioned Crooks' household is cooperating with the investigation.
A congressional panel made up of Republicans and Democrats can also be investigating safety lapses that led to the capturing, and at the least 5 Secret Service brokers have been positioned on administrative depart following the safety breach.
Supply: FBI
