Secret Service, FBI respond to Trump rally video showing figure on roof minutes before gunfire
The U.S. Secret Service and FBI on Thursday responded to a video recorded by James Copenhaver, one of the victims wounded in a July 13 assassination attempt against former President Trump, showing a figure moving across the roof of the building gunman Thomas Crooks shot from.
The video that Copenhaver shared exclusively with Fox News Digital was taken at 6:08 p.m. on July 13, minutes before Crooks fired at least eight gunshots at 6:11 before counter snipers killed him.
"The Secret Service is committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure that never happens again," the agency told Fox News in a statement. "That includes complete cooperation with Congress, the FBI and other relevant investigations."
The FBI told Fox News it is aware of the video but has no further comment.
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Crooks killed 50-year-old Corey Comperatore — a father and volunteer fire chief — and critically wounded 74-year-old James Copenhaver and 57-year-old David Dutch in his attempt to assassinate the former president. Because Trump turned his head at the last second to look at a projection screen displaying immigration statistics, a bullet sliced Trump's ear, but he was rushed out of the rally otherwise unscathed.
Law enforcement officials have been working to piece together a timeline of events since that evening to determine how and why Crooks was able to carry out the assassination attempt.
Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley's office released text messages obtained through a public records request showing that law enforcement was aware of a suspicious person near the rally site approximately 90 minutes before gunfire began and took photos of Crooks around 4:36 p.m.
FBI officials told reporters during a press call on Monday that Crooks gained access to the roof of the AGR building by climbing HVAC equipment and piping. He then traversed multiple rooftops before he found his position on top of the AGR building, where he had a direct line of sight to the former president.
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Leading up to the shooting, on July 6, Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, researched how far Lee Harvey Oswald was from the late President John F. Kennedy when Oswald assassinated the former president in 1963.
On July 7, he traveled to the rally site and spent approximately 20 minutes in the area, according to Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge at the FBI's Pittsburgh field office.
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On the day of the rally, Crooks parked his vehicle and flew a drone between about 3:50 p.m. and 4 p.m. about 200 yards from where the former president would be speaking on July 13. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified during a July 17 congressional hearing that Crooks had been at the rally site for about 70 minutes the morning of the assassination attempt.
Fox News' CB Cotton and Seth Andrews contributed to this report.