The FBI claims it still hasn’t established what motivated gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks in his failed assassination attempt against President Donald Trump.
More than two weeks after the attempted assassination of Trump, the FBI doesn’t even know how the attacker got his gun up on the roof.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate told Congress this week that the gunman lifted himself on the roof at 6:06 p.m., minutes before opening fire at 6:11 p.m.
When asked how the gun got on the roof, Abbate said the shooter may have kept it in a backpack.
However, he admitted that the FBI isn’t sure.
Abbate said the FBI has examined the gun and it would have been visible if placed in the backpack.
“It’s possible that he broke the rifle down, although we don’t have conclusive evidence of that, and took it out of the bag on the roof in those moments before and reassembled it there, that’s one of the theories we’re looking at and working on right now,” Abbate said.
At a previous hearing, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Crooks’ rifle had a collapsible stock that may have made it easier to conceal.
Wray also caused outrage by suggesting Trump wasn’t actually shot, a comment the FBI retracted.
Abbate continued to play cleanup for Wray’s remark.
He told Congress there “never has been” any doubt Trump was hit with a bullet.
While the FBI still doesn’t have a motive, Abbate said a social media account associated with the shooter made “anti-immigrant” and “anti-Semitic” postings in 2019 and 2020.
However, this appears to directly conflict with other evidence regarding Crooks’ social media activity.
Abbate did not mention in his opening statement that the shooter had a different social media account with more recent posts.
During questioning from Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Abbate admitted the gunman shared “differing views” on Gab in 2021.
The owner of Gab, Andrew Torba, revealed that Crooks had an account on the platform that he used to post left-wing, pro-immigration, and pro-Biden messages.
“From what I’ve been told, that is accurate,” Abbate said of Torba’s claims.
“Though that’s been publicly revealed through the CIO and other things, we’re still working to certify and verify that that’s his account.
“But it does have differing points of view, it would appear.”
Meanwhile, the Secret Service is doubling down on blaming local police for failures of communication.
Local police spotted Crooks acting suspiciously and reported him to the Secret Service 25 minutes before he pulled the trigger.
They lost track of Crooks for six minutes and did not see him on the roof until 6:08 p.m., Abbate said.
Crooks was not seen with a gun until 30 seconds before the shooting when a local officer went on the roof.
The acting director of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, said the agency did not know there was an active threat because of a lack of information from local law enforcement.
“Nothing about man on the roof, nothing about man with a gun,” he said.
“None of that information ever made it over our net.”
