FBI says gunman spent months looking for a target

The FBI has released new details into the assassination attempt of former president Donald Trump at a rally in rural Pennsylvania last month.

Transcript

00:00The FBI says that they've now carried out more than 1,000 interviews regarding this

00:07attempted assassination of the former president of the United States.

00:11They say they still do not have a definitive motive for why Thomas Crooks tried to kill

00:18Donald Trump, but they say that Crooks had mounted a sustained, detailed effort to attack

00:25a major gathering before deciding to target the former president, and importantly Crooks

00:30had searched both for Donald Trump events, but also Joe Biden events, who's obviously

00:37currently the president of the United States and at the time was Donald Trump's opponent

00:42in this presidential election.

00:44Now the FBI is calling this particular targeting a target of opportunity, referring to the

00:50event in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Thomas Crooks attempted to kill Donald Trump and

00:55then struck him in the ear with a bullet.

00:59Crooks himself was killed by counter snipers.

01:02They've also released a series of photos, including one that shows explosive devices

01:09in the boot of Thomas Crooks' car.

01:12The FBI has also released details that in their investigations they have evidence that

01:16Crooks did internet searches for explosives and also released this photo showing the backpack

01:23and semi-automatic weapons that Crooks was carrying with him on the day in question.

01:29Now what is obviously fascinating is that at this point they say that there is no clear

01:35political motive at the time.

01:36Obviously the assumption was that perhaps someone who disliked Donald Trump for his

01:42politics was trying to kill the former president.

01:46But at this point there's no evidence to suggest that.

01:49They say he was searching.

01:51He seemed to hold a range of political views, but there's no clear line between that and

01:56his targeting of Donald Trump.

01:58And importantly, they say there is no evidence that he was working with anybody else, nor

02:03that he was working at the behest of a foreign government.