WASHINGTON — Hours before shooting, the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump flew a drone about 200 yards from the stage where the Republican nominee was later scheduled to appear, watching and streaming the scenes live online, FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers.
If the accounts on social media were alarming, Wray’s revelation about the drone used by the attacker hours before the campaign rally is even worse, because it indicates that the killer was near the security perimeter for hours without appearing suspicious.
The FBI recovered the drone and a controller from the car of the attacker, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crook, and is analyzing it as agents investigate his background and motive.
Wray added that a laptop linked to the gunman included the Google search: “How far was Oswald from Kennedy?” That’s a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, who killed President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
The Google search was conducted on July 6, a week before the assassination of Trump.
Wray’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee is his most detailed commentary yet on the July 13 bombing in Butler, Pennsylvania, which has drawn the FBI into a political maelstrom as the agency investigates the more serious attempted murder against a president or presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan was attacked in 1981.
Drones further exacerbate unusual security failures
The details about Crooks’ drone, hours before Trump took the stage for the rally, add to questions about serious security failures that preceded the attack.
Wray promised lawmakers that the FBI would “leave no stone unturned” in its investigation of the shooting, which described as infamous and horrific.
“I have long said that we live in a heightened threat environment, and tragically, the attempted murder in Butler County is another example — a particularly heinous and public one — of what I have been talking about for a long time,” Wray said.
The hearing had been scheduled well before the July 13 shooting, as part of the House committee’s routine oversight of the FBI and Justice Department, and while lawmakers can address a wide range of topics, questions about the shooting are expected to dominate the session.
Despite being appointed by Trump, Wray frequently faces antagonistic questioning from the Republican-dominated panel, a reflection of lingering discontent over the FBI’s investigation into possible ties between Russia and the 2016 campaign.
That sentiment was clear from the start of the hearing, when panel chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, told Wray: “I’m sure you understand that a significant portion of the country has a healthy and logical skepticism about the FBI’s ability to conduct a fair, honest, open and transparent investigation.”
While the FBI has not faced the same level of scrutiny over the shooting as the Secret Service has over security lapses that preceded the attack, culminating in the resignation of its director, Kimberly Cheatle, on Tuesday, Wray is also likely to face intense criticism over the agency’s assessment.
Source: With information from AP.