Former President Donald Trump will take part in a victim interview with the FBI about his attempted assassination at a campaign rally, the agency told reporters on Monday.
The interview with Trump “will be consistent with all other victim interviews we conduct,” an FBI official said at a press conference.
The official said the agency wanted to listen to Trump's “perspective” on the July 13 incident, when a gunman with an AR-15 rifle fired eight shots while the Republican presidential candidate was on stage on the rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.
The FBI said it couldn’t provide further details concerning the shooter's motive, even though it has conducted lots of of interviews, sent data requests to dozens of firms and reviewed 1000’s of suggestions within the 16 days because the attack.
In a phone call on Monday, an agency official described the potential attacker, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, as a “loner” with few social contacts outside his immediate family.
A Trump campaign spokesman didn’t immediately reply to CNBC's request for comment.
On Monday afternoon, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Democratic House Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of New York announced the 13 members of a bipartisan panel to analyze the attempted assassination.
The task force of seven Republicans and 6 Democrats is led by Chairman Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and rating member Jason Crow (D-Colo.). The others are Reps. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), David Joyce (R-Ohio), Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), Clay Higgins (R-La.), Pat Fallon (R-Texas), Lou Correa (D-Calif.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) and Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.).
Crooks, who was shot dead by U.S. intelligence seconds after opening fire, killed protester Corey Comperatore and injured two others.
Trump also suffered a minor injury to his right ear within the attack. Kevin Rojek, special agent in control of the FBI's Pittsburgh field office, said on the press conference that Trump was “struck by a bullet, either whole or fragmented into smaller pieces,” fired by Crooks.
This assessment was made clear by the recent testimony of FBI Director Christopher Wray before Congress, who had indicated that he was unsure whether Trump was hit by a bullet or shrapnel. Wray's response fueled the anger of Trump's supporters.
On Monday, Rojek revealed a wealth of details about Crooks' social media habits and his planning of the attack, although his motive remained unclear.
Crooks was “highly intelligent, attended college and had a steady job,” Rojek said.
Analysis of Crooks' electronic devices, social media accounts and other sources indicate that he “made significant efforts to conceal his activities.”
But his search history revealed that Crooks had been on the lookout for information on mass shootings, explosives, power plants and other political assassinations.
Rojek said that at one point Crooks asked, “How far was Oswald from Kennedy?”
The weapon utilized in the attack was legally purchased by Crooks' father in 2013 and transferred to his son last 12 months, the FBI official said.
Police recovered two explosive devices from the trunk of Crooks' automobile near the location of the Trump rally and one other from his bedroom.
On the afternoon of the rally, Crooks flew a drone near the rally site for about eleven minutes.
Over an hour before the shooting, Crooks was identified as a suspect by a police officer who took a photograph of him and sent it to other SWAT members and native personnel on the scene.
As for a way the crooks made it to the roof of a constructing near the rally stage, Rojek said the FBI believes he climbed up a heating, ventilation and air-con unit and a pipe on the skin of the constructing after which crossed several roofs.
At around 6:11 p.m. ET, Crooks fired eight shots before he was killed.
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