THE US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found an explosive device in the car of Donald Trump shooting suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks. Former prosecutors suggest the device might be an indication that Crooks hoped to survive the shooting.
The FBI said there is no evidence so far that Crooks operated as part of a larger group. But his motive remains unclear.
FBI officials are treating the shooting of Donald Trump as a domestic terrorism attack and an assassination attempt. What remains unclear is how a man with a semi-automatic rifle gained access to a rooftop 400 feet from the stage where Trump was speaking at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
On Sunday (7/14) evening, federal investigators from the FBI, ATF and all three US attorneys’ offices in Pennsylvania were involved in a widening investigation and seized several of Crooks’ devices, including some of his communication devices.
The device and the AR-15-style rifle, which officials said was purchased legally, were sent to the bureau’s laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. The ATF identified the gun’s owner through a national tracing center and using business records from gun dealers.
“The results of the trace were provided to the FBI within 30 minutes,” said agency spokeswoman Katrina Mastropasqua.
Read also: Biden Asks Americans to Remain Calm After Donald Trump Was Shot
The campaign shooting has raised the stakes for each candidate and thrown the 2024 presidential election into uncertainty. The Trump and Biden campaigns scaled back their political functions over the weekend as they worked to deal with the immediate fallout from the situation.
In Washington, Biden spoke to Trump in a brief and largely respectful phone call. In brief remarks from the White House, Biden called the assassination attempt “the very thing we stand for as a nation. It’s not who we are as a nation. It’s not American. And we can’t let this happen,” he said.
Biden said he had publicly requested a national security review, and he had directed the U.S. Secret Service to review security arrangements for the Republican convention.
Also read: Condemning the Shooting of Donald Trump, DPR: A Reminder to Respect Differences of Opinion
Later in his speech, the president called for unity. “The shooting calls for all of us to take a step back,” Biden said.
“We support a decent and graceful America, politics should not be a killing field,” he said.
The Guardian previously reported that Trump gathered with senior advisers at a Bedminster club in New Jersey. Trump’s next appearance is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday in Milwaukee, and he arrived Sunday night.
“Based on yesterday’s terrible events, I was planning to postpone my trip to Wisconsin, and the Republican National Convention, for two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a shooter, or potential assassin, to force a change in scheduling or anything else,” Trump wrote.
(The Guardian/Z-9)
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