FBI Director Christopher Wray responded to questions from lawmakers Wednesday about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and made several main points about the incident, adding that the shooter flew a drone from the site of Trump’s rally. .
Wray told a House Judiciary Committee hearing that Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, used the drone at 3:50 p. m. and at four p. m. on the day of the rally and that the FBI believes Crooks possibly flew him about two hundred yards from the level where Trump would speak two hours later.
“We believe, but we don’t know, so again, it’s one of the things that has nuance because of our ongoing review, that he livestreamed, you know, he saw the footage” for about 11 minutes, Wray said.
Wray said the FBI recovered the drone from Crooks’ car and also recovered two explosive devices from the vehicle, as well as a third explosive device from Crooks’ home.
The FBI is investigating the shooting, which left one user dead and two seriously injured. Trump grazed the side of the head through a bullet, causing a minor injury to the former prespectant’s ear.
Wray has continually said the FBI investigation is ongoing. When asked through Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) why the FBI has not provided more main points to the public about the shooting, Wray said it is being as transparent as possible, adding “Frankly, it’s for an investigation in course”.
When lawmakers on the committee began denouncing Wray about the major security breaches that led to the shooting, Wray clarified the scope of the bureau’s investigation and referred security-related issues to the Secret Service.
“The FBI’s mandate is focused on the shooter and everything similar to his attack,” Wray said, noting that the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general and an independent committee are investigating the Secret Service’s actions.
“There’s a lot of painting going on and still a lot to do, and our understanding of what happened and why it’s going to keep evolving, but we’re not going to leave anything to chance,” Wray said.
The FBI is tasked with building Crooks’ motivations, and Wray said it’s still a work in progress.
“I think it’s fair to say that we still don’t have a transparent concept of his motivations,” Wray said, noting that agents had uncovered no manifesto or accumulated data about his motivations from interviews and a review of Crooks’ social media. .
“The shooter appears to have done a lot of research on public figures in general,” Wray said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The director said the FBI had issued orders to download data on Crooks’ virtual accounts.
Wray’s long-planned appearance before the committee is part of the FBI’s annual oversight of Congress, but the cases surrounding his testimony were superseded after the assassination attempt. Many questions focused on this point at the beginning of the hearing, but Wray still testified Wednesday afternoon.