FBI Updates Media on Trump’s Would-Be Assassin Thomas Crooks and Motives

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the federal government’s investigation into the attempted assassination of President Trump from July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania that took the life of one, and seriously injured Trump and two others, confirmed certain key details about the case to media outlets in a private call today.

The FBI formally said today, on the record, that the 5 1/2 foot ladder purchased by Thomas Crooks was not used at the rally shooting. The FBI confirmed that the ladder was left behind at the home on the day of the shooting. It had previously been reported that Crooks used a 5.5 ladder to get access to the American Glass Research building, from whose roof Crooks took several shots at the President.

The Gateway Pundit had exclusively, previously, debunked the federal ladder narrative as implausible and otherwise impossible.

The FBI said today that Crooks scaled HVAC equipment outside the AGR compound to get access to the AGR roof.

The FBI claims it is no further along in developing a coherent motive for the attack. They were clear that their goal, in their investigation, “was not to determine fault” for the shooting but merely to detail and document the evidence, and also investigate the motive of the shooter. Even though the Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned last Tuesday for what she termed before Congress as a ‘colossal failure’, the FBI said they are not looking into assessing multiple major security failures with the Trump rally.

The FBI also confirmed that President Trump was hit by a bullet or bullet fragments, and not pieces of the teleprompter, as some dishonest left-wing media outlets had previously been reporting.

They confirmed that they have recovered eight shell casings from the roof of the AGR building. Additionally, they said the model of the gun recovered was a DPMS AR-15, chambered to 5.56 ammunition. The FBI said the weapon was purchased legally by Crooks’ father and legally transferred by the father to the son last year.

The FBI claimed the Crooks family, his father Matthew, mother Mary, and older sister Katherine, have been completely cooperative so far, and that nothing was indicative that Crooks was planning an assassination. Thomas did not ‘hoard’ ammunition or speak about any plans for violence, the FBI says.

The FBI said that the bicycle observed at the location, and the backpacks associated with the bike, are now known to be unrelated to Thomas Crooks.

The FBI said Crooks’ weapon had a collapsible stock which allowed him to carry it in a backpack and allowed him to get into position on the roof of the American Glass Research building. They were still trying to determine how he otherwise concealed the rifle until just prior to the shooting, since Crooks was not observed with either a backpack or a rifle about an hour prior to the shooting when he was seen sitting outside the AGR building.

The FBI call featured Kevin Rojek, who is the Special Agent in Charge (SAIC), of the Pittsburgh Field Office, along with Bobby Wells, who is the FBI’s Counter-terrorism and National Security Division Director.

The FBI claimed they have conducted 450 interviews so far in the case, and have sent out 86 “legal service process requests for data and content’ to companies. They also claimed to have processed and screened 2,100 tips in the forms of writings, photos, and videos so far.

The investigation as it relates to Crooks’ potential motives, so far only show that he had an interest in shooting that began as a hobby, and developed into a more serious commitment over time, the FBI said. They continue to look into electronic information, including multiple cell phones, laptops, memory cards, gaming accounts, messaging platforms, online search engines, emails, to determine Crooks’ intentions.

The FBI said that Crooks’ internet search history specifically searched, “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” and he also made searches they felt were related to power plants, improvised explosive devices, as well as details about the attempted assassination of populist Slovakian Prime Minister Fico in May. Current and former Presidents were also generally searched.

“His search history indicates he was involved in careful and deliberate planning prior to the attack on President Trump.”

The FBI claimed that many of his firearms and chemical purchases were made using aliases and encrypted email systems using foreign servers. They claimed that Crooks registered to attend the Trump rally on July 6th, and on the same day did research related to Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy.

The FBI complained that encrypted apps have been a challenge in the investigation and caused ‘delay’ in getting into his devices and phones, “but that these were overcome.” Asked about the comments by Andrew Torba, CEO of the Gab social network, that comments from Crooks were identified and were definitely left-wing and pro-Biden, the FBI said they had no comment on the allegations.

Also on July 6th, claims the FBI, Crooks did a walkaround and surveillance of the Butler Farm Show Airfield location for 20 minutes.

The Bureau confirmed that they recovered two explosive devices near the rally, and one in his room at his residence, where they also found ammo boxes filled with explosive materials and ignition devices. They said neither IED found in his car exploded and both were in the ‘off’ position, but were capable of being exploded.

The IED found at Crooks’ home was non-functional, they said.

The drone used by Crooks was located in his car, but was missing any memory chip. It was theorized that he used the drone while simply watching its flight from his phone, they said.

The FBI said that Crooks arrived to the Trump rally at 3:45pm, parked, and flew his drone for around ten minutes from 3:50pm-4:00pm starting near the site of the rally, around 200yards from site of rally.

The FBI said Crooks was “highly intelligent, a loner, and most of his social circle was his family.” They said they were still assessing his mental state, but that there were no treatments or prescriptions that were known to the Bureau or uncovered so far.

On gaming platforms, the FBI says he had very little interactions with other people. The FBI claims they haven’t found anyone who was close with him in any social circle.

President Trump has been contacted for, and agreed to provide, a victim interview so that the FBI can determine what he saw and Trump’s experience as a victim of crime.

The FBI did not bother to try and explain why GPS timestamps show a device, prior to the rally, going to Plymouth, Massachusetts, downtown Washington DC near the FBI building, the Butler Rally grounds, and the Crooks family home, prior to the shooting.

Additionally, the FBI did not address the security failures that created a unique opportunity to take shots at Trump, which includes: a) removal of the ‘line-of-sight’ security protocols, b) failing to secure the AGR roof, c) failure by the 2nd floor snipers tasked to the Secret Service to interdict Crooks as he was setting up to take shots, d) while around 35 bystanders, including patriot Greg Smith, were screaming at the police to take action against the obvious sniper.

The FBI also did not address acoustic researchers who claim that several different types of shots were taken, at least one of which was muffled and seems to have come from within a building.

The FBI also did not address why the death photos of Crooks on the roof do not display the kind of damage and blood spray consistent with a head shot from a rifle.

The phone call featured these 50 outlets, in addition to the Gateway Pundit, as interested in the ongoing facts about the case: Audacy Radio, Butler Eagle, Butler Radio, The New York Times, Cranberry Eagle, New Castle News, Pittsburgh Patch, Herald Standard, Indiana Gazette, Indiana Radio, Times Online, National Public Radio, KDKA TV, Kittanning Paper, Associated Press, New Castle News, Observer Reporter, Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Courier, Sharon Herald, Thomson Reuters, Trib Web, WESA, WPXI, WTAE, ABC News, Washington Examiner, Los Angeles Times, Fox News, The Hill, Erie News Now, CBS News, The Guardian, FCI-NY, Joe Appel Photography, Financial Times, Hearst Media Connecticut, WESA, Canadian Broadcast Corporation, News Nation Now, Scripps, WSB TV, Washington Post, BBC, Sky News, KTLA, Lead Stories, NBC Universal, Fox 8, and National Review.

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