In a dramatic congressional hearing, FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed startling details about the man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump. The would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, bizarrely researched the JFK assassination and flew a drone near the rally just hours before the attack. Crooks had also armed himself with a gun bought from his father and used complex tactics to access the building’s roof. These revelations paint a chilling picture of his elaborate preparation and raise urgent questions about how close he came to succeeding in his deadly plan.

Only two hours before the former president ascended the stage, FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed that Donald Trump’s would-be assassin flew a drone over the vicinity of the rally and looked up information about the John F. Kennedy killing on his laptop.

The startling disclosures are the most recent information from the probe to surface this week during congressional hearings regarding the Trump event in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 reports CNN.

Wray also revealed during the lengthy House Judiciary Committee hearing that investigators think Thomas Matthew Crooks used a gun with a collapsible stock and that he climbed the building rather than using a ladder to reach the roof.

Politics dominated much of the meeting as Democrats badgered Wray about Project 2025 and Republicans brought up Vice President Kamala Harris in an attempt to link the presumed Democratic presidential nominee to border policy and other measures.

The following are the main conclusions from Wednesday’s hearing:

Shooter researched JFK assassination details.

The FBI’s examination of Crooks’ laptop revealed that Crooks looked up Lee Harvey Oswald’s distance when he shot and killed Kennedy in 1963.

On July 6, the day he registered for the demonstration, there was a search.

“On July 6, he did a Google search for: ‘how far away was Oswald from Kennedy,’” Wray told the House Judiciary Committee.

The FBI director continued, “That’s a search that’s obviously significant in terms of his state of mind.” “That is the same day that it appears that he registered for the Butler rally.”

Shooter operated a drone just 2 hours before Trump’s appearance.

Crooks “was flying the drone around the area” of the event, Wray disclosed, about 200 yards from the stage, “about 4 p.m.”

Investigators think that during the drone’s roughly 11-minute flight, Crooks was able to view a live feed of the device on his phone. According to earlier reports from CNN, the drone was discovered in his car after the shooting.

Furthermore, Wray testified that Crooks had two explosives in his car and one in his house when the shooting occurred, but he was likely unable to detonate them from the roof where he was slain.

“It looks like because of the on/off position on the receivers, that if he had tried to detonate those devices from the roof, it would not have worked,” Wray said.

As a result of their ability to “reverse-engineer the drone’s flight path from the day of the rally,” investigators, according to Wray, believe that the drone footage “would have shown [the shooter] what would have been behind him.”

According to Wray, “it was almost like giving him a rear-view mirror of the scene behind him.”

The incident is being looked at by the FBI as a possible act of domestic terrorism as well as an attempted assassination. Authorities from the FBI have stated time and time again that they think Crooks acted alone, and Wray has restated that there is no proof of any other conspirators.

The gun with a collapsible stock was bought from the shooter’s father.

According to investigators, Crooks shot the former president about eight times with an AR-style rifle before a US Secret Service countersniper killed him.

Wray said that Crooks bought the weapon he used from his father.

“The weapon that he used for the attempted assassination was an AR-style rifle that was purchased legally, that he – as my understanding – acquired, I think bought actually from his father, who was the one who originally bought it,” Wray said.

In the past, authorities stated that they didn’t know how Crooks obtained the gun and that they thought the gun belonged to Crooks’ father, not the shooter.

“I have been saying sometime now that we are living in an elevated threat environment,” Wray said. “The shooter may be deceased but the FBI’s investigation is ongoing.”

Despite searching the shooter’s computer, phone, and bedroom, interviewing his family and friends, and going through his belongings, investigators have not been able to determine what drove the 20-year-old would-be assassin to take action.

According to officials, the crooks had never before interacted with the FBI and were not previously listed in their databases or on their radar.

Got to the roof

According to the FBI, Crooks ascended to the roof where he fired at Trump using tools and plumbing that were fixed to the structure.

“We now believe the subject climbed onto the roof using some mechanical equipment on the ground and vertical piping on the side of the AGR building,” Wray said. “In other words, we do not believe he used a ladder to get up there.”

Wray said the FBI verified that Crooks had previously bought a ladder that was about five feet tall.

Commissioner Christopher Paris of the Pennsylvania State Police stated in his testimony on Tuesday that Crooks was on the roof for about three minutes before firing at Trump.

Republicans leverage hearing to scrutinize Harris

GOP lawmakers pressed Wray during his testimony to talk about any conversations he had with Harris while she was vice president. This was a noteworthy line of inquiry considering that Harris is now the presumed Democratic nominee for president.

The topics covered included whether Wray and Harris have regular briefings, how Wray behaves in those sessions, and what kinds of issues Wray has voiced concerns about.

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida questioned Harris at one point about how often Wray’s briefings with President Joe Biden include Harris. Wray refused to provide a detailed response.

Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin questioned Wray on whether Harris had “specifically asked you for a meeting” or “met with you in regard to the border” about the “threats that are at the border.”

Again refusing to name specific meetings or conversations, Wray claimed to have “been in meetings that include the vice president” where the border was mentioned.

Regarding Wray’s border talks with Harris, Indiana Representative Victoria Spartz also questioned if the vice president has “actually initiated” regular meetings “as the leading border czar.” Wray remained silent.

Shooter searched for news articles

Wray refuted rumors that Crooks looked up pictures of particular well-known public figures on the internet, claiming that it seemed he was looking up news stories.

“The shooter appears to have done a lot of searches of public figures in general, but so far we are seeing kind of news articles and things like that,” Wray said. He continued, “So the images that have been reported about, really what we are talking about there are when you do a news search of an article the image appears in a cache as opposed to like a search for that specific individual.”

The director of the FBI issued a warning, saying that “it is, quite frankly, a dangerous time to be a prominent public official,” even if investigations into Crooks’ motivation are still underway.

Employee facing internal review for a post about shooting

On Wednesday, Wray announced that an internal investigation is underway into an FBI employee who posted something “totally inappropriate” regarding the attempted assassination of Trump.

“Have any FBI agents texted, emailed, or expressed disappointment that Trump survived the assassination attempt or otherwise editorialized about the assassination attempt?” Republican Representative Chip Roy questioned the director.

Although there had only been one incidence “of an individual who posted something that I consider outrageous, totally inappropriate, and unacceptable,” Wray said he was not aware of any other agents acting inappropriately.

“That individual has been referred to our inspection division, which is our sort of internal affairs investigatory arm that does the disciplinary process,” Wray said.

Wray omitted to mention the post’s location.

Wray anticipates increased threats from Iran

On Wednesday, Wray stated that the FBI had notified the US Secret Service of an Iranian conspiracy to kill former president Donald Trump. He also predicted that law enforcement authorities would likely witness more acts of this kind of “brazenness” from Iran in the future.

The director emphasized that his organization has been pointing out “efforts by the Iranian government to attempt to retaliate for the killing of (Iranian General) Soleimani by going after current or former prominent US officials,” but he declined to give the committee specifics of “specific, classified information.”

“I think we need to recognize the brazenness of the Iranian regime, including right here in the United States, and I expect that we’re going to see more of it and I expect there will be more coming on that,” Wray said.

According to various persons briefed on the situation, CNN has previously reported that US authorities received intelligence on an Iranian attempt to assassinate Trump from a human source in recent weeks. This news prompted the Secret Service to step up security measures surrounding the former president. The sources claimed there was no proof Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who tried to murder the former president, was involved in the scheme.

Schiff lauds FBI’s policy on hiring felons, referencing Trump’s conviction

Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat, questioned Wray about the agency’s hiring practices in an attempt to undermine the Republican Party’s selection of Trump, a convicted felon, as their 2024 presidential candidate.

“Do candidates for the FBI have to go through background checks?” Schiff asked, to which Wray said yes.

“Would someone with dozens of felony convictions survive a background check for the bureau?” Schiff said.

“No,” Wray replied.

“So they would never be hired by the bureau?”

“No,” Wray said again.

“Clearly, the bureau has higher standards for their hiring than one of America’s great political parties,” Schiff said.

Earlier this year, Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of fabricating business documents as part of a hush money plot he planned to pull off before the 2016 election.

Wray rejects proposal for FBI director to report directly to President

In his testimony, Wray expressed his opposition to the concept put out by some Trump supporters, which would have the head of the law enforcement agency report directly to the president.

Project 2025, the conservative platform for the next Republican president, which was drafted in part by over 140 former Trump administration staff members, includes the FBI’s restructuring suggestion. The president would be the new boss of the FBI director, who would no longer report directly to Justice Department officials.

“I don’t think that would be a wise approach,” Wray told Georgia Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson, when asked about the idea.

“I was appointed by President Trump – I respect that. I think that’s part of our structure,” Wray said. “But independence in terms of how we do our work is what matters to me. And we need to be able to do our work in a way that is free from political interference.”

Wray stated he hadn’t read or evaluated Project 2025 and refrained from making any direct remarks about it.