Encrypted apps stall FBI investigation into Donald Trump's would-be assassin

US officials 'ashamed' after new details emerge about shooting of former US president

Acting director of the US Secret Service Ronald Rowe, left, and deputy director of the FBI Paul Abbate are sworn in before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Reuters

The FBI has indicated that encrypted phone applications were stalling the investigation into Thomas Crooks, the man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump during a Pennsylvania campaign rally this month.

Paul Abbate, head of the bureau, testified before the Senate on Tuesday alongside Ronald Rowe, the new acting director of the US Secret Service who took over from Kimberly Cheatle.

Ms Cheatle resigned last week after the assassination attempt amid criticism surrounding Secret Service agents' response.

Mr Abbate said the bureau has been unable to access specific accounts believed to have belonged to Mr Crooks because they are “encrypted in nature”.

“We need a solution that provides lawful access,” he added.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham expressed concern over the revelation and questioned how this might affect addressing security threats from foreign powers.

US intelligence revealed Mr Trump had faced threats from Iran in the run-up to the attempt on his life. Tehran has denied the allegations.

“We have encrypted apps of an assassin, a murderer, and we can't get into them,” said the senator.

“I'm all for privacy but to a point. What if, in the future, somebody's using these apps to communicate with a foreign power? I think we need to know these things.”

Mr Crooks, 20, opened fire on July 13 at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, as thousands gathered to support Mr Trump's campaign to regain the presidency.

Bullets grazed Mr Trump's ear, killed one attendee and critically wounded two others. Law enforcement agents shot and killed Mr Crooks shortly after he began firing from a rooftop near the event.

The FBI is investigating a social media account they believe to be associated with the gunman, which produced more than 700 comments between 2019 and 2020 that “appear to reflect anti-Semitic and anti-immigration themes, to espouse political violence and are described as extreme in nature”, Mr Abbate said.

Investigators have also found that Mr Crooks had conducted “advanced planning and reconnaissance” for the shooting, including a visit to the site on July 7, after searching online “how far was Oswald from Kennedy”, referencing the assassination of then-president John F Kennedy in 1963.

Mr Abbate outlined a 90-minute timeline from when the gunman was first identified as a threat by law enforcement to when he ultimately fired “about eight” rounds at Mr Trump.

Mr Rowe said he was “ashamed” after reviewing the gaps in security on the day of the assassination attempt.

“I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured,” Mr Rowe said, at times appearing angry as he showed the committee photos showing the gunman's visibility on the rooftop.

“This was a failure of imagination. A failure to imagine that we actually do live in a very dangerous world where people do actually want to do harm to our protectees,” he added.

Mr Rowe indicated the shift to a mobile phone, text-based communication protocol rather than radio also could have had an impact on those gaps in security, including slowed responses and distracting eyes from targets.

“It was great that there was a text chain, but that communication needs to go over the net, it needs to go over a radio channel so that everyone has situational awareness of it,” he told the Senate committee.

“That was the protocol [when he served on presidential detail] … perhaps with the advent of technology and smartphones, perhaps we've got away from that.”

The FBI announced last week it would interview Mr Trump as part of its investigation into the assassination attempt.