Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Trump Agrees to Be Interviewed as Part of an Investigation Into His Assassination Attempt, FBI Says
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 9 months ago on
July 29, 2024

FBI seeks Trump's perspective on assassination attempt as investigation reveals gunman's extensive planning and research. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed by the FBI as part of an investigation into his attempted assassination in Pennsylvania earlier this month, a special agent said on Monday in disclosing how the gunman prior to the shooting had researched mass attacks and explosive devices.

The expected interview with the 2024 Republican presidential nominee is part of the FBI’s standard protocol to speak with victims during the course of their criminal investigations. The FBI said on Friday that Trump was struck by a bullet or a fragment of one during the July 13 assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“We want to get his perspective on what he observed,” said Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office. “It is a standard victim interview like we would do for any other victim of crime, under any other circumstances.”

FBI Builds Portrait of Gunman Through Extensive Interviews

Through roughly 450 interviews, the FBI has fleshed out a portrait of the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, that reveals him to be a “highly intelligent” but reclusive 20-year-old whose primary social circle was his family and who maintained few friends and acquaintances throughout his life, Rojek said.

The FBI has not uncovered a motive as to why he chose to target Trump, but investigators believe the shooting was the result of extensive planning, including the purchase in recent months of chemical precursors that investigators believe were used to create the explosive devices found in his car and his home and the use of a drone about 200 yards (180 meters) from the rally site in the hours before the event.

Gunman’s Online Research Reveals Disturbing Interests

In addition, Rojek said, Crooks looked online for information about mass shootings, improvised explosive devices, power plants and the attempted assassination in May of Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.

The FBI has said that on July 6, the day Crooks registered to attend the Trump rally, he googled: “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” That’s a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooter who killed President John F. Kennedy from a sniper’s perch in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

Parents Cooperate with Investigation, Unaware of Son’s Plans

Crooks’ parents have been “extremely cooperative” with investigators, Rojek said, and the extensive planning that preceded the shooting was done online. The parents have said they had no knowledge of Crooks’ plans, and investigators have no reason to doubt that, the FBI said.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

DON'T MISS

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

DON'T MISS

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

DON'T MISS

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

DON'T MISS

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

DON'T MISS

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

DON'T MISS

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

DON'T MISS

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

DON'T MISS

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

DON'T MISS

Israel’s AI Experiments in the War in Gaza Raise Ethical Concerns

UP NEXT

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

UP NEXT

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

UP NEXT

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

UP NEXT

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

UP NEXT

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

UP NEXT

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

UP NEXT

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

UP NEXT

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

UP NEXT

Israel’s AI Experiments in the War in Gaza Raise Ethical Concerns

UP NEXT

Paul Skenes Strikes Out 9, Wins Duel With Yamamoto in Pirates’ Victory Over Dodgers

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

4 hours ago

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

4 hours ago

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

8 hours ago

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

8 hours ago

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

8 hours ago

Shedeur Sanders Is Still Waiting for a Call as the NFL Draft Enters the Final Day

8 hours ago

Israel’s AI Experiments in the War in Gaza Raise Ethical Concerns

8 hours ago

Paul Skenes Strikes Out 9, Wins Duel With Yamamoto in Pirates’ Victory Over Dodgers

8 hours ago

Eovaldi Outlasts Verlander as Rangers Beat Giants

9 hours ago

Rams Take Oregon Tight End Terrance Ferguson in Second Round After Trading Out of First

9 hours ago

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

President Donald Trump said Saturday that Russia’s escalating bombardment of Ukraine had left him concerned that Russia did not want to end ...

3 hours ago

3 hours ago

Trump Says Putin May Not Want Peace and May Need to Be ‘Dealt With Differently’

3 hours ago

Is It Bad to Chew Gum All Day?

3 hours ago

Dollar Doubts Dominate Gathering of Global Economic Leaders

4 hours ago

US Judge Temporarily Stops West Texas Immigrant Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

4 hours ago

Shedeur Sanders’ Long Wait Ends When Browns Take Him in the 5th Round of the NFL Draft

8 hours ago

Only About Half of Republicans Say Trump Has Focused on the Right Priorities

8 hours ago

ICE Deports the Mother of an Infant and a 2-Year-Old Who Is a US Citizen

8 hours ago

Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 People, Half of Them Children

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend