The FBI announced it has successfully accessed the phone belonging to Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who opened fire on former President Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
“FBI technical specialists were able to access Thomas Matthew Crooks’ phone and are continuing to analyze his electronic devices,” the agency wrote in a press release.
Law enforcement sources familiar with the situation told Fox News that the gun Crooks used, a DPMS AR-15 5.56, is now in the FBI’s forensic labs in Quantico, Virginia, along with his phone, laptop and at least one improvised explosive device from his car.
The FBI has completed its search of Crooks’ home and vehicle. Just over a dozen firearms were found in the home. Crooks’ family continues to cooperate with the FBI, Fox News confirmed.
ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON TRUMP AT PENNSYLVANIA RALLY LEAVES 2 INJURED, 2 DEAD, INCLUDING SHOOTER
The FBI has successfully accessed the phone belonging to Thomas Matthew Crook, the gunman who opened fire on former President Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Press release via AFP)
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., and ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., spoke Monday with FBI Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells.
A committee spokesperson provided a statement to Fox News on the status of the investigation and what happens next.
“The FBI is focused on the shooter, his motive, any potential association, developing a timeline of events, and related issues, while the Secret Service is conducting a separate review of its security protocol. Chairman Green is pleased to know that the FBI has conducted nearly 100 interviews to date and has access to the shooter’s phone. Chairman Green has been assured by EAD Wells that the FBI intends to be transparent with Congress during its investigation. Chairman Green intends to schedule a site visit, if possible, once the scene is processed, and hopes to be briefed by the USSS as soon as possible, as do the members of the committee.” – Spokesperson for the House Homeland Security Committee
The FBI said it conducted nearly 100 interviews with law enforcement officers, event attendees and other witnesses. It also received hundreds of tips from digital media, including photos and videos taken at the scene.
The agency began its investigation into Crooks and the shooting shortly after Saturday’s attack. Agents visited Crooks’ and his parents’ homes Sunday and Monday. They are investigating the incident as an attempted murder and possible domestic terrorism.
Trump has broken his silence about Monday’s assassination attempt, saying he was alive “by luck or by God.”
“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump told the New York Post. “I’m supposed to be dead.”
“The doctor at the hospital said he’d never seen anything like it, he called it a miracle,” Trump also told the newspaper aboard his private plane en route to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for this week’s Republican National Convention. “By luck or by God, a lot of people say it’s by God that I’m still here.”
WHO WAS THOMAS MATTHEW CROOKS? WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Trump told the Post that if he had not turned his head slightly to the right to read a chart about illegal immigration, the bullet that grazed him would have been fatal.
Trump told the Post that if he had not turned his head slightly to the right to read a chart about illegal immigration, the bullet that grazed him would have been fatal. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
REPUBLICAN CONVENTION BEGINS 2 DAYS AFTER TRUMP SURVIVED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
He described the Secret Service agents who rushed at him as “linebackers,” saying another took out the shooter “with a single shot, right between the eyes.”
The Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 14, 2024, the eve of the start of the Republican National Convention. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
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“They did a fantastic job,” he told the Post. “It’s surreal for all of us.”
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