Wray: FBI Believes Trump Shooter ‘Live-Streamed’ Venue
F_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@RepThomasMassie: You aren’t gonna believe what Chairman Nadler just did! He cut Witness from answering the question: “Do you have any evidence or proof that the suspect was bomb crazy and attempted to assassinate Pres. Trump?” — Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) July 24, 2024
During the hearing, Rep. Thomas Massie accused Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler of cutting off Wray from answering questions about whether there was evidence the shooter was attempting to assassinate Trump.
“Do you have any evidence or proof that the suspect was bomb crazy and attempted to assassinate President Trump?” Massie asked.
Chairman Nadler intervened before Wray could respond, saying, “The time of the gentleman has expired.”
“While I appreciate your intentions in asking the question, the director doesn’t have to answer it,” Nadler added.
Massie responded by calling the move “unthinkable.”
“It’s not your job to protect him. It’s your job to chair a committee,” Massie said to Nadler.
“But I do, in fact, have to answer the question,” Wray said.
MASSIE asks HANK FUTRELL “Do you have any evidence or proof that the suspect was bomb crazy and attempted to assassinate President Trump?” – but Nadler windsup cutting him off: “The time of the gentleman has expired” and ”The director doesn’t have to answer.” C… pic.twitter.com/8D9TDTi8lM
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) July 24, 2024
Wray reiterated that the suspect was carrying a transmitter when he was killed, and that the devices in his possession could have been detonated remotely. He also said there was no clear indication at this point that the shooter had an accomplice in the attempted assassination of Trump.
The FBI director also suggested that the shooter may have been motivated by radical ideologies but emphasized that the investigation is ongoing.
“At this stage, our investigation is still ongoing, and ongoing means we have a lot more work to do in terms of sorting through any evidence of motive,” Wray said.
The Judiciary Committee hearing comes as law enforcement continues to investigate the attempted assassination of President Trump, which occurred during a rally in Wheeling, West Virginia on July 17th.
The shooter, Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by law enforcement officers after he opened fire on the stage where President Trump was speaking.
President Trump was unharmed in the incident, and later tweeted, “Thank you to the great patriots who have sent well wishes to me following the incident in West Virginia. We will not be intimidated by violence or phony threats from those who wish to silence our voices.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray told House lawmakers Wednesday his agency believes former President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania live-streamed the venue with a drone two hours before the rally.
“We have recovered a drone that the shooter appears to have used,” Wray said, which is now being analyzed by an agency lab. “The drone was recovered in his vehicle, so at the time of the shooting the drone was in his vehicle with the controller.”
Wray said the shooter was “flying the drone around the area” roughly “200 yards” away from the rally grounds just hours before the event was scheduled to begin. “We think, but we do not know,” Wray said, “that he was live-streaming, viewing the footage.”
Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan pressed Wray about several bombs discovered in the shooter’s car after the assassination attempt.
“We’ve recovered three devices,” Wray said, “three in his vehicle and one back in his residence.” The FBI director characterized the bombs as “relatively crude devices” but added “they did have the ability to be detonated remotely.” The shooter, Wray said, had a transmitter with him when he was killed by law enforcement, but explained “because of the on/off position on the receivers, that if he had tried to detonate those devices from the roof, it would not have worked.”
FBI Director Wray says that Thomas Crooks, the attempted Trump assassin, was flying a drone about 200 yds from the stage where Trump spoke about two hours before the rally, “live streaming.”
Also says FBI recovered 3 explosive devices, 2 in Crook’s car and one in his home. pic.twitter.com/sT7rmuCl0H
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) July 24, 2024
Wray also told lawmakers the weapon used by the shooter had a “collapsible stock,” which, “could explain why it might have been less easy for people to observe.”
“We haven’t yet found anybody with a first-hand observation of him with the weapon walking around beforehand,” Wray said.
A source with the Secret Service told Fox News last week that authorities believe the shooter hid the firearm at the site of the event.
FBI Director Way reveals that the weapon used by the would-be Trump assassin had a collapsable stock, which he says is a “significant” detail. pic.twitter.com/LQFKCedka5
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 24, 2024
The FBI director told the Judiciary Committee his agency has no evidence of co-conspirators at this point, and that the 20-year-old may have acted alone despite leaked intelligence of an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.
“So far, we have not found any evidence of any accomplices or co-conspirators, foreign or domestic,” Wray said.
🚨 @RepThomasMassie: “Is there any evidence at all that [the Trump shooter] may have been in contact with somebody else before this occurred?”
FBI Wray: “So far, we have NOT found any evidence of any accomplices or co-conspirators, foreign or domestic.”
ANYBODY BELIEVE HIM? 🧐 pic.twitter.com/y8hYfp3atQ
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 24, 2024
Wray also offered more details into what investigators found on the would-be assassin’s recovered laptop. The shooter had searched how far away Lee Harvey Oswald was from the President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade in 1963.
“On July 6th, he did a Google search for ‘How far away was Oswald from Kennedy,’” Wray said.
“That is the same day that it appears that he registered for the Butler rally,” said the FBI director.
Wray reveals that “on July 6, [the would-be Trump assassin] did a Google search for ‘How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?'”
That was also the same day he registered for the Butler rally. pic.twitter.com/blpMPQ5shf
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 24, 2024
The Wall Street Journal first reported news of the drone last week which flew “on a programmed flight path.”
“The predetermined path,” the Journal reported, “suggests Crooks flew the drone more than once as he researched and scoped out the event site.”
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday after her own hearing before the House Oversight Committee on Monday wherein the agency chief refused to answer many of lawmakers’ questions into the worst presidential security failure in more than 40 years. At one point, Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C. asked Cheatle whether the Secret Service had “recorded communications from the July 13th event.”
“We do not have radio communications from that day,” she said.
Cheatle stepped down after a bipartisan crescendo of calls for her to lose her job in the wake of brazen security lapses at Trump’s Pennsylvania event. A source told The Federalist that Trump’s team had repeatedly pled with federal officials to beef up security but were rebuffed “time and again” while the roof from where the shooter shot the Republican presidential nominee was left open because it was “sloped.”
On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported the Secret Service encouraged the Trump campaign to quit planning any more events outside. Federalist Senior Election Correspondent Matt Kittle reported “it’s not clear whether the agency has made the same requests of Vice President Kamala Harris.”
Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected]. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.
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