The FBI has gained access to the password-protected phone of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old Pennsylvania man who shot at Donald Trump on Saturday before being killed by the Secret Service, according to a new report from the New York Times. But it’s still not clear what kind of help the phone may provide in determining a precise motive for the assassination attempt.
The FBI didn’t immediately respond to an email from Gizmodo on Monday afternoon, but told 404 Media that specialists were now able to access the phone and “they continue to analyze his electronic devices.”
Further details about how the FBI gained access and what other electronic devices belonging to Crooks may be searched were not released, though the agency reportedly told the Times that it had “fully searched the gunman’s car and residence” and received “hundreds of digital media tips,” including photos and videos from the scene. The FBI has also conducted almost 100 interviews with “law enforcement personnel, event attendees, and other witnesses,” according to the Times.
Crooks shot at the former president from roughly 130 yards away on Saturday from the vantage point of a nearby rooftop while Trump was holding a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was reportedly shot in the ear before he ducked down behind the podium while Secret Service snipers shot and killed Crooks. A Trump supporter at the event, Corey Comperatore, was killed and two others, 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver, were injured by gunfire but are expected to survive.
The FBI said on Sunday that it was unable to get into Crooks’ phone and it’s not clear what allowed them to gain access after it was shipped to the FBI’s lab in the bureau’s lab in Quantico, Virginia. As 404 Media points out, the agency has previously been frustrated by locked phones, though the introduction of unlocking features that rely on fingerprints and face scans has presumably made that job easier, as long as there’s both a body and no additional password has been added.
The FBI was incredibly frustrated with Apple after Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik shot and killed 14 people in San Bernadino, California back in 2015. Both the NSA and FBI were unable to unlock Farook’s phone and Apple declined to cooperate, leading the FBI to seek the help of security experts in Australia who were able to finally open the phone.
Trump’s brush with death has put a renewed focus on political violence in the U.S., as the former president has stoked a culture of fear and retribution with his anti-democratic rhetoric. And Trump’s announcement Monday that he’d chosen J.D. Vance to be his vice presidential running mate will only heighten that fear.
Vance had previously referred to Trump as “America’s Hitler’ back in 2016 but has pulled a complete 180, now going to bat for arguably the most dangerous man in modern political history. Trump has suggested Gen. Mark Milley should be executed, has retweeted calls for Liz Cheney to be tried in front of military tribunals, and recently said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg should be thrown in prison. And that doesn’t even get into Trump’s state policy agenda, which includes deporting at least 12 million people, dismantling the civil service, and rolling back civil rights for trans people.
The latest polling is bad news for President Joe Biden, with the former president up 7 points in Arizona, up 5 points in Wisconsin, and up 4 points in Georgia, North Carolina, and Georgia. The latest national polling average from FiveThirtyEight has Trump 2.3 points and it’s not at all clear what Biden can do to improve his position. The President has pledged to stay in the race, despite doubts that he’s the person who can pull it off and beat Trump, but there’s not much that can be done if Biden doesn’t drop out of his own accord. All anyone can do is cross their fingers and hope for the best.
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