FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday shared new information about the drone and explosive devices recovered from the gunman who attempted to kill President Trump, revealing that the shooter flew a drone over the Butler, Pa. fairgrounds two hours before Trump spoke at the rally.
Speaking before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, Wray detailed that the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, flew the drone around the area, about 200 yards from the stage, between 3:50 p.m. and 4 p.m. Trump took the stage at 6 p.m. Wray suggested Crooks might have been live-streaming the footage for about 11 minutes. At the time of the shooting, the drone was in Crooks's vehicle and is now being analyzed by the FBI lab.
The FBI also found two “relatively crude” explosive devices in Crooks’s car and one at his home. Wray noted these devices could be detonated remotely, and Crooks had a transmitter on him. However, initial findings suggest that had he tried to detonate the bombs from his position on a roof 150 yards from Trump, it would not have been successful due to the on-off position of the receivers.
Wray also revealed that the FBI managed to access Crooks’s phone, overcoming a “significant technical challenge,” and found that Crooks had been using encrypted messaging apps. Wray highlighted the increasing use of these apps as a challenge for law enforcement.
Wray also told lawmakers on Wednesday that a search of the laptop linked to the 20-year-old gunman showed he had researched John F. Kennedy’s assassination before the attack.
Wray noted that the shooter searched “how far away was Oswald from Kennedy” on July 6 — the same day he registered for Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Crooks had flown a drone to capture aerial footage of the Butler Farm Show grounds shortly before Trump’s rally, contributing to several security lapses that nearly resulted in Trump's assassination, one attendee’s death, and two others being badly injured.
