Thomas Matthew Crooks apparently flew a drone over the rally site multiple times in the hours before Trump’s speech
Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks flew a drone over the Butler, Pennsylvania fairground a few hours before former president Trump’s appearance, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal claimed to have spoken to “law-enforcement officials” who told them that Crooks flew a drone on a “programmed flight path” over the fairground where Trump was due to speak. Crooks flew the drone over the fairground more than once “as he researched and scoped out the event site.”
The revelation, if true, is another stunning admission of failure by Trump’s security detail.
Donald Trump Jr. commented on the revelation on Twitter, saying that he was prevented by the Secret Service from flying his own drone off the beach at Mar-a-Lago when his father was there.
“Now we have one literally scouting his speech!!!” Don Jr. said.
The official line remains that Crooks was a troubled loner who planned and carried out the assassination attempt on 13 July without any aid from others.
Officials have said that Crooks planned the assassination attempt meticulously. He began his research not longer at the event at Butler was announced on 3 July. He registered for the event on 7 July and a few days later visited the fairground to begin his preparation.
He also created homemade bombs, including devices that were found in his car at the Butler showground. It’s not currently known how Crooks was able to manufacture these devices.
“It’s unclear how Crooks assembled the explosive devices found in his car,” CNN reported.
“Investigators parsing through his online search history haven’t found any indication of him researching how to make home-made explosives, law enforcement officials said.”
It has also been revealed that Crooks used encrypted cell-phone accounts to communicate.
A motive for the attempt on Trump’s life is also yet to be established. There has been focus on the fact that Crooks appeared to be registered as a Republican to vote, but that he also donated money to a Democrat PAC on the day of Biden’s inauguration. The Wall Street Journal claims that, as well as searching “for dates of Trump rallies,” Crooks also searched for “information about next month’s Democratic convention and President Biden.”
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