The latest on the 2024 presidential race | CNN Politics

The FBI on Wednesday laid out how Donald Trump’s would-be assassin had researched campaign events for the former president as well as President Joe Biden, but then became “hyper-focused” on the Pennsylvania rally just 40 minutes from the shooter’s home. 

The FBI released new photos of the gun used to shoot Trump during the July rally, as well as pictures of his backpack and explosives the shooter had in his car. 

Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office, detailed how the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, saw the Trump rally as a “target of opportunity.” Officials have not yet identified a motive and said that Crooks expressed “no definitive ideology.”

Those searches, Rojek said, also show the detailed searches Crooks made regarding the rally location, including the building where Crooks shot Trump. 

On July 6, nearly a week before the rally, Crooks searched online “where Will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show” as well as “Butler Farm Show podium” and “Butler farm show photos,” according to Rojek. 

Two days later, Crooks searched “AGR International,” the company that owned the buildings Crooks climbed before opening fire. On July 9, Crooks searched “ballistic calculator” and the next day, he searched “weather” and “Butler.”  

On Crooks’ motive, Bobby Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, said investigators have as a “clearer idea of mindset” but that “at this time, the FBI has not identified a motive, nor any co-conspirators or associates of Crooks with advanced knowledge of the attack.” 

Rojek said “we see no definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or right-leaning.”