GOP Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona said the FBI is not being forthright enough about what it knows about the man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump in July.
Last week, the FBI gave an update concerning its investigation into the July 13 shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left one man dead and three others, including the 45th president, wounded.
At a news briefing in Washington on Wednesday, FBI Assistant Director Cathy Milhoan told reporters Thomas Matthew Crooks did an online search as early as September 2023 regarding Trump’s campaign schedule and appearances in Pennsylvania.
However, from April 2024 to July 12, he searched both campaign events for President Joe Biden and Trump.
“In the 30 days prior to the attack the subject conducted more than 60 searches related to President Biden and former President Trump. Of particular note our investigation identified specific searches conducted on July 5 to include, ‘When is the DNC convention’ and ‘When is the RNC in 2024,’” Milhoan said.
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The Western Journal asked Crane at a Friday news conference in Phoenix what he makes of the FBI not releasing much information about Crooks to date.
“I’m not surprised one bit. I’m not surprised at all. It’s on par with what I’ve seen from them in the past,” he said. “I don’t think that they want to be transparent about what happened.”
“The other day, when they released some of their findings, they were talking about how many times President Trump was Googled by Thomas Crooks. They said they couldn’t figure out his ideology because he also looked up President Biden,” Crane noted, referring to the Wednesday FBI briefing.
@RepEliCrane tells @WestJournalism it is “telling” what information the FBI has left out about the @realDonaldTrump shooter. pic.twitter.com/KbUsjwvmmy
— Randy DeSoto (@RandyDeSoto) September 3, 2024
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“You notice what they didn’t say. They didn’t say what he was looking up about President Biden. They did tell you though that he was looking up, when it came to President Trump, when was the Butler rally going to be, where would the stage be. He was looking up the AGR building, so he’d know where he could take his shots from. He was even looking up the weather,” he said.
The former Navy SEAL explained the information Crooks sought was, “Anything that anybody that was doing mission planning for an assassination would have to look up.”
Then with regards to Crooks’ online Biden search, Crane argued for all the public knows, he may have wanted to know the president’s positions on health care, Medicare or some other policy issue.
“They left that out, which I found to be interesting and also telling,” the congressman said.
Because of a lack to trust in the FBI, Crane said he and other members of Congress have been conducting their own investigation into the Trump assassination attempt.
“The people that I represent … don’t believe that the federal government is going to get to the bottom of it. They’ve seen the FBI and what they’re up to, what they’re capable of,” Crane said. The lawmaker’s 2nd congressional district includes Prescott, Sedona, Flagstaff and extends from the Utah border all the way down south of Phoenix.
He referenced the bureau’s Jan. 6 investigation, which has resulted in over 1,200 Trump supporters being criminally prosecuted, as well as the targeting of Catholics, concerned parents at school board meetings, and the handling of the Hunter Biden laptop as evidence that the FBI is politically bent against conservatives..
“The people that I represent don’t believe the federal government is going to get to the bottom of [the Trump assassination attempt]. They’ve seen the FBI, what they’re up to. What they’re capable of…And so some of us have said, ‘We’re going to step up” and get more answers. pic.twitter.com/VZ0DaCoXnm
— Randy DeSoto (@RandyDeSoto) September 3, 2024
The people he represents “don’t trust the FBI,” Crane emphasized.
“And so some of us have said, ‘We’re going to step up.’ Though we may not have subpoena power, we’re going to do everything we can and think outside the box to get as many answers as possible,” the congressman said.
Crane added, “And hopefully because of our pressure, we’ll get more whistleblowers to come talk to us.”
The combat veteran traveled to Butler, Pennsylvania, with other GOP members of Congress shortly after the Trump assassination attempt, and he identified many problems with security provided that day.
I’m on the roof of the building in Butler, PA where shots were fired in an attempt to assassinate President Trump.
As a former Navy SEAL sniper, it was clear to me that many security measures were dropped making Pres. Trump extremely vulnerable.
Many questions still remain. pic.twitter.com/p2EhBTFg1M
— Rep. Eli Crane (@RepEliCrane) July 22, 2024
In particular, Crane noticed a nearby water tower the Secret Service did not utilize that would have given the agents a full view of the entire venue, including the rooftop Crooks used to carry out his attack.
