A House GOP lawmaker says the FBI is stonewalling information about the first assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump and he is now considering issuing a subpoena for FBI Director Christopher A. Wray to answer questions.
Rep. Mike Waltz, Florida Republican, and Rep. Madeleine Dean, Pennsylvania Democrat, both members of the Bipartisan Assassination Task Force, appeared on “Fox News Sunday” to discuss the panel’s probe into the Secret Service’s failure to prevent Thomas Matthew Crooks from shooting into a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania back in July.
Although the Secret Service has said it has taken full responsibility, Mr. Waltz said the FBI has failed to provide their task force with the information they have asked for since Mr. Trump was shot in his ear and Crooks killed a Trump supporter at the rally.
“The Secret Service is being forthcoming about its failures in communication guidance to locals having appropriate command posts. The FBI, on the other hand, is completely stonewalling this task force,” Mr. Waltz said. “It has not been forthcoming.”
Mr. Waltz noted that virtually nothing is known about Crooks, including his encrypted accounts and how he learned to build improvised explosive devices that were later found in his home and car.
“Was he working with people overseas? Nothing about how he was radicalized, clearly, to take this assassination attempt,” Mr. Waltz said. “And if Director Wray won’t be forthcoming, we should subpoena him now.”
He added, “There’s mounting bipartisan frustration is on Iran. Iran has multiple plots to kill President Trump ongoing, one of which has been intercepted. They just hacked his campaign and gave the results of that hack to the Biden-Harris campaign.”
The last time Mr. Wray faced lawmakers about the first assassination attempt of Mr. Trump happened immediately after the shooting in July when he told them that “there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, hit his ear.”
Two days later, the bureau issued a statement saying: “What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle.”
Correction: A previous version of this article incompletely identified the suspect.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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