WASHINGTON — The man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump last month sought information about both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions before ultimately opening fire on the former president’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, FBI officials told reporters Wednesday, suggesting Trump’s event was a “target of opportunity.”
FBI officials also said they found no evidence that accomplices worked with 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who tried to assassinate Trump just days before he accepted the 2024 Republican nomination at the RNC.
“I want to be clear: We have seen no indication that Crooks was directed by a foreign entity to carry out the attack,” FBI Assistant Director Bobby Wells told reporters.
Another official, Kevin Rojek, the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau’s Pittsburgh office, said the shooter was not only seeking information about both conventions, but also details about campaign events for both Trump and President Joe Biden, who was still the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee when Trump was shot.
Crooks engaged in a “sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack” and “looked at a number of events and targets” before ultimately “hyper-focusing” on the Trump rally after it was announced in early July. The Trump rally appears to have been a “target of opportunity,” Rojek said.
On July 5, Crooks searched the internet for “when is the DNC convention” and “when is the RNC in 2024.”
Rojek said investigators found a “mix of ideologies” in the content the FBI retrieved from Crooks’ accounts. “I would say we don’t see a definitive ideology that relates to our topic, left or right,” he said. “It’s really a mix and something that we’re still trying to analyze and draw conclusions from.”
The shooter’s family has been “extremely cooperative” with the investigation, Rojek added.
A bullet whizzed past Trump’s skull and struck him in the ear during the July 13 attack, causing the former president to bleed as the Secret Service formed a wall around him and escorted him to a vehicle. Crooks was shot and killed seconds after the shots rang out. One attendee at the rally, former Fire Chief Corey Comperatore, was killed in the attack and others were wounded.
Kimberly Cheatle, director of the Secret Service at the time of the shooting, resigned last month under pressure from lawmakers. Several Secret Service officials were suspended while an internal investigation into the planning of the rally unfolded, a source familiar with the decisions told NBC News.
Last week, Trump spoke from behind bulletproof glass at an outdoor rally in Asheboro, North Carolina.
The FBI called Trump’s interview about the impact on victims “productive” and noted that the FBI had “extensively briefed” the former president about the investigation.
“We are grateful to the former president for his cooperation and his time,” Rojek said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
