Trump shooter planned to create ‘diversion’ with explosives to escape, says Mike McCaul

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Sunday that the gunman behind the assassination attempt on donald trump He wanted to create a “diversion” with explosives so he could escape.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee last Wednesday that as part of their investigation into the shooting at Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, law enforcement officers recovered Thomas Crooks’ vehicle. a drone and explosive devices that could be detonated remotely. Crooks also had a transmitter, although remote detonation probably “wouldn’t have worked” from his location, Wray said.

While the FBI still doesn’t know Crooks’ motive, McCaul — who previously chaired the House Homeland Security Committee — provided new details about Crooks’ plans before the assassination attempt.

“What’s interesting, Robert, is he had a detonation device and two bombs in the car,” McCaul told host Robert Costa on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “His plan was to assassinate the president, create a distraction by blowing up his vehicle on the other side of the property, and then he could escape.”

Secret Service snipers killed Crooks after he fired an AR-15 from the top of a building just 400 feet from Trump, killing one rally attendee and wounding two other attendees on July 13. suffered a 2 cm wide wound in his ear during the shooting and the bullet was less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, according to the former president’s doctor.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle faced immense scrutiny from both Democrats and Republicans over the agency’s failure to stop the assassination attempt. She resigned last week the day after a House Oversight Committee hearing in which she struggled to answer questions about why Crooks was not detained.

McCaul visited the location where Crooks was positioned and believes the shooter should never have been so close to Trump, he said. The Republican added, however, that he has “faith and trust” in the Secret Service in general — but not in its former leadership.

“I’m glad Director Cheattle did the right thing and resigned,” McCaul said. “Every time there is an assassination attempt, it is a failure. And she said it herself. I think the agents are good. The problem is that the president is under a lot of threats,” he continued, referring to intelligence that suggests Trump may also be the target of Iranian plots to assassinate him.

While several congressional committees investigate the assassination attempt, the House voted unanimously last Wednesday to create a bipartisan task force to also investigate the shooting. The task force – which will be made up of seven Republicans and six Democrats, each chosen by their respective party leadership – is expected to release its findings report by mid-December.

McCaul said he is not sure if he will serve on the task force, but would be willing to do so if asked to serve.