Trump shooting suspect saw rally as ‘target of opportunity,’ but motive a mystery, feds say

Top FBI officials revealed Wednesday that they still haven’t been able to determine a motive in the 46-odd days since a would-be assassin drew blood from former President Donald Trump at his Butler, Pa. rally.

“Extensive analysis of the subject’s online search history, as well as his specific online activity, has provided us valuable insight into his mindset but not a motive,” FBI Pittsburgh Field Office Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek told reporters during a briefing.

“We have not uncovered any credible evidence indicating the subject conspired with anyone else,” he added. “…The subject conducted more than 60 searches related to President Biden and former President Trump.”

Deceased suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks also had a July 5 search for “When is the DNC convention” and “When is the RNC in 2024.” Other alarming searches include “Where will Trump speak from at Butler farm show,” “Butler farm show podium,” “Butler farm show photos,” “detonating cord,” “blasting cap,” “How to make a bomb from fertilizer” and “how do remote detonators work.”

Investigators determined that Crooks espoused a “mixture of ideologies” but didn’t appear to have a “definitive ideology” and that he seemingly embarked on a “sustained, detailed effort” to attack some political events, before becoming “hyper-focused” on the rally.

In addition to pouring through Crooks’ internet searches, overseas encrypted messaging accounts, autopsy and more, they also questioned Trump and conducted “nearly 1,000 interviews.”

They flagged several jarring searches by accounts associated with Crooks, including from September 2023 about Trump’s “schedule” for Pennsylvania events.

Rojek stressed that Crooks’ parents “have provided all the information that we have asked and have been extremely cooperative.”

The Field Office Special Agent later emphatically confirmed that there was “no second shooter,” despite conspiracy theories swirling on the internet and that right now there’s no evidence of another co-conspirator.

Crooks had fired eight rounds before succumbing to a “single gunshot wound to the head” by local law enforcement, officials explained.

Meanwhile, the bipartisan House task force probing last month’s attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump blasted out a sprawling document and interview request on Wednesday.

Chairman Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Ranking Member Jason Crow (D-Colo.) demanded the Department of Homeland Security fork over a trove of internal communications, lists of individuals in charge of various aspects of security, transcripts of internal interviews done, the security plan for that day, and more.

They further requested interviews with people in charge of 17 specific aspects of security during the July 13 Butler, Pa. rally.

“The Task Force is investigating all actions by any agency, Department, officer, or employee of the federal government, as well as State and local law enforcement or any other State or local government or private entities or individuals related to the attempted assassination,” Kelly and Crow wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Kelly, whose district encompasses Butler, Pa., and Crow gave DHS a deadline of Sept. 4 to comply with their lengthy list of demands in a seven-page letter, which was first reported by Politico.

Six Democrat and three Republican members of the task force visited Butler Farm Show grounds Monday to tour the site where the harrowing attempt on Trump’s life took place. Several Republicans on the task force had opted to attend Trump’s event at Arlington National Cemetery to mark the third anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal instead.

Over 250 miles away, back in Washington, DC, five conservative members of the House Republican Conference who are conducting their own competing probe of the assassination attempt, held an alternative event at the Heritage Foundation to promote their investigative work.

There are multiple investigations already underway into the attempt to kill Trump, including from several Senate committees, the FBI, DHS review panel and DHS Office of the Inspector General.

Document requests Kelly and Crow made of DHS also included clarity on the accomplishment of those various investigations since they commenced as well as a list of “all internal inquiries and/or reports that are underway within DHS and” the Secret Service.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) unveiled the bipartisan task force last month to look into the security failings that preceded the attack.

The Secret Service has faced a firestorm in the weeks after Crooks managed to crawl across the top of a shed about 130 yards from Trump and fire off multiple shots, including one that drew blood from the former president’s right ear.

Kimberly Cheatle, its former director stepped down last month amid intense pressure.

At least five officials at the protective agency also were moved to administrative duty — meaning that they can’t be involved in operational planning — over the debacle, ABC News reported.

Moreover, the protective agency has since established caches of bulletproof glass across the country so that it can erect them around Trump during outdoor rallies.

Trump has publicly stated that he will trek back to Butler for a rally there in October to honor firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was killed in the attack.

The Post contacted the DHS for comment.

Looking beyond the Trump assassination attempt, the task force is also pressing the DHS for information about the general size of security for the president, first lady and more.

July 13 marked the most significant security failure by the Secret Service since the 1981 attempt on former President Ronald Reagan.

Both chambers of Congress are set to reconvene next month, and controversy over the attempt on Trump’s life is set to be a pronounced issue.