Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, disclosed on Wednesday that the gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald J. Trump appeared to have used a drone to survey the site of the shooting for about 11 minutes in the hours before Mr. Trump took the stage.
“It appears that around 3:50 p.m., 4:00, on the day of the shooting, that the shooter was flying the drone around the area,” Mr. Wray said during his testimony, noting that it was “not over the stage, but about 200 yards, give or take, away from that.”
The gunfire on July 13 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., left Mr. Trump’s ear bloodied, killed a rallygoer who had been sitting in the stands and seriously injured two others.
Mr. Wray said the would-be assassin operated the drone about two hours before Mr. Trump spoke at the rally.
Secret Service snipers killed the gunman, Thomas Crooks, 20, after locating him on a nearby roof. Mr. Crooks was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and had magazines for the rifle and a bulletproof vest in his car. Mr. Wray confirmed that the F.B.I. recovered eight bullet cartridges from the roof where the gunman opened fire.
So far, Mr. Wray said, the F.B.I. has not found a motive for the shooting even as the investigation evolves. But the bureau continues to examine the gunman’s electronic devices for additional clues about Mr. Crooks’s mind-set and movements beforehand.
It is not clear what other information the F.B.I. might release during the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, but the bureau has been forthcoming with details about the shooting since Mr. Crooks is dead. While the F.B.I. typically does not discuss continuing investigations, the extraordinary circumstances and public interest in the failed assassination attempt allow the bureau to inform the public.
“The attempted assassination of the former president was an attack on our democracy,” Mr. Wray said. “I recognize the congressional and public interest in this case.”
He added that the investigation was evolving and that the gunman used encrypted messaging applications. He described explosive devices found in the gunman’s car as “crude” but said they were able to be detonated remotely.
Mr. Wray said the drone operated about 200 yards from the stage, where Mr. Trump spoke.
Lingering questions remain about the gunman’s violent trajectory and when he actually started to plan the shooting.
The F.B.I. has conducted more than 100 interviews, and scores of bureau personnel are involved in the investigation.
During testimony before Congress on Monday, Kimberly Cheatle, the head of the Secret Service, faced withering questions from both sides of the political aisle, repeatedly declining to answer questions about the security lapses that led to the assassination attempt.
Officials investigating the matter, including lawmakers in hearings this week, have repeatedly questioned why the Secret Service’s security perimeter did not include the building from which the gunman eventually fired and why no law enforcement officer was stationed there during the rally. They have also asked why Mr. Trump was allowed to take the event stage when law enforcement, including the Secret Service and the local police, was searching for a suspicious person.
On Tuesday, in the face of mounting calls that she step down, Ms. Cheatle resigned.
but he could have other details about an Iranian plot to kill Mr. Trump or other national security threats.
In the hearing on Monday with Ms. Cheatle, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Michael Turner of Ohio, said that Mr. Wray was shocked that information about the Iranian threat was not included in the Secret Service threat assessment for Mr. Trump’s rally in Butler.
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