A person affiliated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the subject of a probe after the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed the investigation during his Wednesday testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
The federal law enforcement official mentioned the investigation in the course of answering lawmakers’ questions.
“Have any FBI agents texted, emailed, or expressed disappointment that Trump survived the assassination attempt, or otherwise editorialized about the assassination attempt?” Rep. Chip Roy asked, according to Fox News.
While the conduct of actual FBI agents themselves was not commented on, the director pointed to at least one problematic instance.
“I don’t know about any agents,” Wray responded.
“There have been at least two instances, I think, or one instance of an individual, who posted something that I consider outrageous and totally inappropriate and unacceptable.
“And that individual has been referred to our inspection division, which is the arm, our sort of internal affairs investigatory arm that does the disciplinary process.”
The existence of an ongoing investigation was not the only thing revealed by Wray’s testimony in front of the House committee.
Did Crooks act alone?
The FBI director made public an internet search by Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter who successfully penetrated Trump’s July 13 rally and fired off volleys of shots that hit the former president and other rallygoers, killing one man in the stands.
Less than a week before the shooting, Crooks used his laptop to search for details surrounding a previous presidential assassination.
“On July 6, he did a Google search for, quote, how far away was Oswald from Kennedy,” Wray said.
The significance of this search, and the timing of it, could lead to greater insights about the shooter himself, the director said.
“That’s a search that’s obviously significant in terms of his state of mind,” Wray added. “That is the same day that it appears that he registered for the Butler rally.”
Further searches of Crooks’ phone and laptop have not revealed evidence of any potential motive.
Wray also said Crooks was able to scout the rally site with a drone before the event began, gathering overhead footage for some 11 minutes before landing the device.
It could have given the shooter an advantage, but investigators are unsure specifically what, if anything, Crooks was using the drone to look for.
“It would have shown the shooter, we think — again, we’re still doing more work on this, I really want to qualify what I’m saying, but I’m trying to be transparent and lenient here,” Wray said. “We think it would have shown him, kind of, what would have been behind him when he was shooting.
“And so we’re trying to in effect say, OK, if this is the flight pattern, given these capabilities of the drone, what would you have seen, what could you have seen in these 11 minutes?”
