BI Director Christopher Wray testified in a Wednesday congressional hearing that would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks flew a drone and livestreamed footage of the Trump rally site in Pennsylvania just hours before he shot the former president.
Wray told members of the House Judiciary Committee that Crooks operated the drone roughly 200 yards from the main stage between 3:50 and 4 p.m. on July 13, roughly two hours before Trump began his speech to supporters at the Butler Farm Show grounds.
“He was live-streaming the footage,” the FBI director confirmed during a line of questioning from Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), adding that the drone was up in the air for an “about 11 min” window.
Wray also revealed that two “relatively crude” explosive devices were later seized from Crooks’ car that were capable of remote detonation via a transmitter.
The Judiciary panel hearing comes one day after the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, whose disastrous testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Monday led to bipartisan calls for her to step down.
“If he had tried to detonate those devices from the roof, it would not have worked,” Wray noted.