FBI Director Chris Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning regarding the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. The former President got shot in his ear at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Despite the presence of the Secret Service, FBI, and local officials, Thomas Mathew Crooks managed to crawl onto a roof and fire multiple shots at President Trump before being taken down by government snipers.
During his testimony, Wray admitted that his agency is not investigating why President Trump was allowed on stage despite the would-be assassin being identified near the building and on the roof before the shooting occurred. This admission came during questioning by Rep. Dan Bishop.
Wray confirmed that Crooks fired off eight shots before he was killed, stating, “We have recovered eight cartridges on the roof.”
Rep. Bishop pressed Wray on why Crooks was able to get off eight shots: “Why was Crooks allowed to get off eight shots?”
Wray responded, “Well, that, I think, is something we’re still digging into. Again, maybe this is a good place for me to make clear the different investigations that are going on. Because certainly…”
When asked why Trump was allowed on stage, Wray admitted that the FBI was not investigating that aspect.
Rep. Bishop: “I think the American people want to know. Why was President Trump not kept off the stage?”
Wray: “We don’t know the answer to that, but I want to be clear, and this is important because I think it goes to questions that I can and cannot answer. Our investigation, the FBI’s mandate, is focused on the shooter and all things related to his attack. Now, obviously, I understand very much the intense interest and focus on the Secret Services’ performance, actions, decision making, et cetera. There are two separate After Action Reviews, the DHS Inspector General and the outside independent panel that’s been convened or focused on that. Now, our investigation will- Everybody understands it.”
Rep. Bishop highlighted the timeline, noting that Butler emergency services spotted Crooks and relayed his photo to the Command Center minutes before Trump took the stage. Despite this, Trump was not kept off the stage.
Rep. Bishop: “Here’s the problem. We’re out 13 days, and you say we’ve been disclosing. We had the colonel from the Pennsylvania State Police in front of Homeland yesterday. He was quite candid. He disclosed to us that Butler emergency services unit personnel were posted into the windows on the second floor of the AGR building, that they left there to go pursue the person that they spotted, Crooks. That they texted a photo of Crooks to the PSP representative in the Command Center. That information was relayed to the United States Secret Service. They asked it to be texted to someone else. That was many minutes before President Trump took the stand. What we don’t know is why were they not keeping him off the stand? And to the extent, I know we always hear when there’s a criminal investigation, you got to wait for that to develop. But do you have any reason to Do you have any other target of your criminal investigation other than Crooks? Who’s dead.”
Watch the full video of the exchange below.