FBI reveals Trump assassin's Oswald research before attack
FBI Director Chris Wray presented information in Congress on Wednesday that Thomas Matthew Crooks, who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump, had previously conducted online searches regarding the methods of Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John Kennedy.
What did the assassin check?
According to the FBI director, Crooks was interested in, among other things, the distance from which Oswald fired the fatal shot. It is known that he checked this information on 6 July. During Trump's campaign rally, just a few hours before the attempted attack, Crooks used a drone to observe the surroundings of the stage, being approximately 180 metres away from it. The drone controller was later found in the assailant's vehicle.
This event was also commented on by the Associated Press Agency, emphasising that although Donald Trump appointed Wray as the FBI director, Republicans engaged in the congressional investigation into the assassination attempt treated him with some disdain.
The distrust towards the FBI among Trump supporters has persisted since the bureau investigated potential ties between Trump's associates and Russia, as well as its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.
In the context of these events, the day before Wray revealed information about the assassination attempt, Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her position as the head of the Secret Service. President Joe Biden announced that a new director of the Secret Service, responsible for protecting current and former U.S. presidents, will be announced soon.
On 13 July, during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump became the target of a failed assassination attempt. Twenty-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired a shot in the direction of the former president from a distance of 135 metres but fortunately did not harm him.
