Trump shooter also searched for info on RNC and DNC, FBI says

WASHINGTON — The man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump last month had searched for information on both the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention before ultimately opening fire on the former president's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, FBI officials told reporters Wednesday, suggesting that the Trump event was a "target of opportunity."

FBI officials also said they had found no indication or evidence that any co-conspirators worked with 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who attempted to kill Trump just days before he accepted the 2024 Republican nomination at the RNC.

"I want to be clear: We have not seen any indication to suggest Crooks was directed by a foreign entity to conduct the attack," FBI Assistant Director Bobby Wells told reporters.

Another official, Kevin Rojek, the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau’s Pittsburgh field office, said that, in addition to searching for information on both conventions, the shooter also searched for details of campaign events held by both Trump and President Joe Biden, who was still the presumptive Democratic nominee when Trump was shot.

Crooks engaged in a “sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack" and "looked at any number of events and targets" before ultimately "hyperfocusing" on the Trump rally after it was announced in early July. The Trump rally appears to have been a “target of opportunity,” Rojek said.

On July 5, Crooks made internet searches for “when is the DNC convention” and “when is the RNC in 2024.”

Rojek said that investigators found a "mixture of ideologies" in the content the FBI recovered from Crooks' accounts. "I would say that we see no definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or