Wray also said that Crooks, about two hours before the shooting, had flown a drone about 200 yards (180 meters) from the rally stage where Trump would later stand and that Crooks used the device to livestream and watch footage. The use of the drone so close the rally site just hours before Trump took the stage for the rally add to the questions about the security lapses preceding the event.
Wray pledged to lawmakers that the FBI would “leave no stone unturned” in its investigation.
“I have been saying for some time now that we are living in an elevated threat environment, and tragically the Butler County assassination attempt is another example — a particularly heinous and public one — of what I’ve been talking about,” Wray said.
The hearing had been scheduled well before the shooting, as part of the committee’s routine oversight of the FBI and the Justice Department. Questions about the shooting dominated the session.
Despite being appointed by Trump, Wray typically faces antagonistic questions from the Republican-led panel, a reflection of lingering discontent over the FBI’s investigation into potential ties between Russia and the 2016 campaign, when Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
That sentiment was made clear early in the hearing when the committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Wray: “I’m sure you understand that a significant portion of the country has a healthy skepticism regarding the FBI’s ability to conduct a fair, honest, open and transparent investigation.”
The FBI so far has avoided the same level of scrutiny over the shooting directed at the Secret Service over security failures that preceded the shooting and has led to the the resignation of Director Kimberly Cheatle.
The FBI has said it is investigating the shooting, which killed one rallygoer and seriously injured two others, as an act of domestic terrorism and an attempted assassination. Trump’s campaign said the presumptive GOP nominee was doing “fine” after the shooting, which Trump said pierced the upper part of his right ear.
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