FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
OAN Staff Blake Wolf 1:16 PM – Wednesday, July 24, 2024
It was revealed on Wednesday by FBI Director Christopher Way that Thomas Matthew Crooks had recently Google searched how far away Lee Harvey Oswald was from President John F. Kennedy during the 1963 assassination.
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20-year-old Crooks attempted, but failed, to take Trump’s life on July 13th during an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Miraculously, Trump had turned his head to the side at the perfect time just for Crooks to miss the kill shot, which would have hit Trump’s brain if the former president had not moved at the last second.
“On July 6, he did a Google search for: ‘how far away was Oswald from Kennedy,’” Wray stated during the House Judiciary Committee hearing.
🚨🇺🇸FBI DIRECTOR: CROOKS GOOGLED HOW FAR AWAY WAS KENNEDY’S ASSASSIN AWAY FROM HIS TARGET
“An analysis of a laptop linked to the shooter reveals that on July 6, he conducted a Google search for ‘how far away was Oswald from Kennedy.’
Crooks was reportedly around 130 yards away from Trump at the time of the assassination attempt, about 40 yards further than Oswald was when he took JFK’s life.
It has also been revealed that Crooks fired eight times from an AR-style firearm, which was legally purchased and owned by his Libertarian father. Officials have not announced how Crooks obtained the gun, however, it is not legally required for gun owners to store their weapons in a locked safe in the state of Pennsylvania.
Additionally, Crooks was found to have two remote detonation explosive devices in his vehicle during the shooting, as well as another explosive found in his home.
Wray went into further detail about the findings, explaining:
“It looks like 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.”
However, Wray’s comments still give little insight into the motive of Crooks.
Investigators also claim that they have still not been able to find “conclusive evidence” as to why Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump. Nonetheless, in 2021, Crooks had donated to ActBlue, a donation platform for Democrat candidates and progressive causes.
“That’s a search that’s obviously significant in terms of his state of mind,” said the FBI director.
During the House Judiciary hearing, The FBI director also noted that at around 4 p.m., Crooks flew a drone around 200 yards away from the main stage for roughly 11 minutes, which happened to be two hours before Trump took the stage.
“He was live streaming the footage” Wray continued.
The FBI director also confirmed that Crooks visited the site of the rally three times prior to the shooting in order to prepare. He visited the site one time during the week before the shooting, and two separate times the day of as well.
Crooks did not have any formal military training, however, he was a “fairly avid shooting hobbyist,” Wray claimed. Yet, this statement contradicts what fellow high school students who knew Crooks said of him. He had previously wanted to join his school’s rifle team, but he was “so comically bad” at shooting during try-outs that it prompted mockery from the other students.
The 20-year-old was not on any official watch list or database pertaining to security concerns, officials added.
“We did not have any information about the shooter,” stated the FBI director.
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