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Trump shooter looked up JFK assassination, flew drone at rally, FBI reveals

Updated Jul 24, 2024, 1:47pm EDT
politicsNorth America
Christopher Wray
REUTERS/Nathan Howard
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The gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump had googled the shooting of John F. Kennedy on his laptop a week before carrying out the Pennsylvania rally shooting. Thomas Matthew Crooks looked up “how far away was Oswald from Kennedy,” FBI director Christopher Wray testified to Congress Wednesday.

The search is “obviously significant in terms of his state of mind,” Wray said.

Crooks also flew a drone near the rally site just two hours before Trump took the stage, Wray confirmed, “around 4 p.m.” for several minutes approximately 200 yards from the stage.

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Explosives found in the shooter’s vehicle were likely too far away to detonate from his position on a building roof, Wray said.

Wray’s testimony comes after Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned her post following intense bipartisan backlash over failing to prevent the shooting.

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