(StraightShooterNews.com) – New bombshell details about the failed assassination attempt on GOP candidate Donald Trump have come to light, as a senior FBI official detailed how the gunman carefully researched Trump and Joe Biden online.
Specifically, 20-year-old assailant Thomas Matthew Crooks examined events and gathered information on explosives for the past five years.
The focus intensified on a Pennsylvania campaign rally last month, which the attacker marked as a “target of opportunity.”
Despite conducting nearly 1,000 interviews, investigators remain unclear about Crooks’ exact motive for shooting at Trump during the July rally.
However, they noted his “extensive attack planning,” which included scoping out campaign events for both the current and former presidents, especially in western Pennsylvania.
FBI’s analysis showed Crooks’ online activities as a “sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some event, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets,” according to special agent Kevin Rojek, who is in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office.
Rojek added that Crooks “became hyper-focused on that specific event and looked at it as a target of opportunity.”
Leading up to the event, his web searches became very specific about the location details like “Where will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show?” and images of the venue.
In the month before the attack, Crooks also searched online for information about both Biden and Trump, including the dates of their respective national conventions.
A week before the shooting, he even looked up at “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?”—a reference to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald.
These findings portray Crooks as an intelligent yet reclusive individual, deeply engaged in violent themes and explosives.
His broad internet searches across political lines have complicated efforts to pinpoint a straightforward political motive or understand why Trump was specifically targeted.
Furthermore, the investigation has not indicated that Crooks conspired with others or that anyone had foreknowledge of his plans.
The FBI discovered explosive devices in his car and home and found that he had been researching bomb-making materials since at least 2019, including how remote detonators function.
The FBI has also released images of the rifle, backpack and improvised explosive devices found in Crooks’ possession.
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