The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will question former President Donald Trump as a “victim” after he was the target of an assassination attempt on July 13, officials said Monday.
The Republican presidential candidate for November was shot on July 13 at the start of a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and suffered a minor ear injury. The FBI confirmed Friday that the former White House resident was indeed hit by a “whole bullet or a bullet fragmented into small pieces.”
A spectator was killed and two other people were injured.
FBI agent Kevin Rojek revealed Monday that Trump had agreed to be interviewed as a “victim,” a “standard interview that we would do for any other victim of a crime, regardless of the circumstances.”
“We want to have his point of view on what he observed” on July 13, the officer said during a telephone press briefing on the progress of the investigation.
The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was killed by a Secret Service sniper who protects presidents, former presidents and important figures. Armed with a semi-automatic rifle, the young man fired several shots from the roof of a building about 150 meters from Mr. Trump’s campaign platform.
According to Mr Rojek, the shooter acted “alone”, apparently “without an accomplice” and was “very intelligent, a university graduate and in a stable job”.
His inner circle was limited to his “immediate family, a few friends and acquaintances” and his parents. They were all questioned. They had no knowledge of their son’s plan, Rojek said, which seems “credible at this stage.”
Investigators are still trying to establish the motive for the attack, which has disrupted the presidential campaign ahead of the November 5 election that is expected to pit Mr. Trump against Vice President Kamala Harris since the withdrawal of outgoing President Joe Biden.
The assassination attempt sparked controversy over security surrounding the candidates, especially the 78-year-old billionaire.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday, a day after a tense congressional hearing in which she acknowledged a major failure.
The FBI said it was not investigating security failures.