Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks ‘had explosive devices’ in his car parked near the Pennsylvania rally

Donald Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks had explosives in the car he drove to the Pennslyvania rally, a new report claims.

Authorities found the devices in his vehicle after he was shot and killed by Secret Service agents, moments after he opened fire on the former president, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Trump writes on Truth Social:

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness.

Our love goes out to the other victims and their families. We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed. In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win.

I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.

The group of potential vice presidential candidate picks for former President Donald Trump are rallying behind the ex-president after the assassination attempt on Saturday with some blaming Biden and Democrats in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

The former president could reveal his GOP running mate at any time as the Republican National Convention kicks off Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Here’s what the top potential running mates are saying:

Images from his graduation and school yearbook show Thomas Crooks.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) denounced Saturday’s ‘radical’ assassination attempt on Donald Trump at his Pennsylvania rally.

The progressive Vermont senator told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning:

Politics should be kind of boring.

We have got to see is serious discussion of serious issues and not this kind of harsh rhetoric.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Donald Trump ‘s senior campaign advisor says the former president life was saved by his decision to reference charts on the jumbotron at his Pennsylvania rally on Saturday.

Dan Scavino Jr. said a slight move of Trump’s head to the visual aid on screen was the reason a bullet grazed his ear rather than went through his head.

Thank God last nights rally was one in which President Trump wanted to use and reference the jumbotron, causing him to slightly move his head at the moment shots were fired.

Lauren Boebert, the Republican congresswoman from Colorado, tells KUSA in Denver:

I do believe that Joe Biden is responsible for the shooting.

Everyone who has called him (Trump) a fascist, everyone who has called him a threat to democracy, who said that he should be put in a bullseye as Joe Biden said, they need to have some very deep reflection tonight before another tragedy like this takes place.

From Senior U.S. Politics Reporter Charlie Spiering in Bethel Park, PA

Pam, a woman from Michigan, had set up a large display of Trump merchandise just outside the venue.

She heard the gunshots, telling DailyMail.com: ‘All of a sudden you saw the screaming and running people. I’m numb a little bit, how can someone feel the right to do that? It’s just evil. They hate Trump … what such an unholy person.’

Bill Bailey – another Trump supporter – said: ‘I fear for his safety, I’ve had a terrible feeling in my gut for the last few months.’

‘Right before the convention, it’s right after this rhetoric of the Supreme Court with people calling for Biden to use his newfound power of immunity to order the assassination of Trump.’

‘There’s been so much talk about Trump’s assassination in the past two weeks. All that talk just gives crazy people stuff in their head.’

Oversight Chair James Comer said he expects to have an ’emergency hearing’ with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle next Monday, July 22.

Cheatle has not yet confirmed she’ll be able to attend the hearing.

The Oversight Committee is looking into the Secret Service’s handling of the shooting, the Homeland Security Committee is probing the Department of Homeland Security Angle and the Intelligence Committee will handle the FBI angle.

Top Republicans have blamed Joe Biden’s campaign rhetoric for the assassination attempt on Donald Trump which rocked American democracy to the core.

Vivek Ramaswamy and JD Vance are among those blasting Biden in the aftermath of the chilling attack at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on Saturday evening – while also sparking urgent questions about major security failings.

The Secret Service is under the microscope for allowing the gunman to crawl over the closest roof to a presidential nominee, after the Department for Homeland Security allegedly rejected requests from Trump’s people for greater security – something the department has denied.

With the Republican Convention set to get underway within hours as officials probe the Trump assassination attempt, a senior official said security at the event will be ‘reexamined.’

A host of federal agencies have already been planning for months on how to secure the convention designated as a national security event. ABC News quoted a senior federal official saying the elaborate security plan would be reexamined.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Jonson told CNN, asked about the arrangements, ‘I know there’s a lot of manpower here and that’s the first stop of security, you have to have people, law enforcement people present to deter any kind of violence.’

He added, ‘I’m not concerned about Wisconsin citizens, I’d be concerned about outside agitators. But obviously I think this is just going to heighten security. It needs to be heightened.’

Speaker Mike Johnson called on both parties to ‘turn the rhetoric down’ that could provoke political violence such as the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

‘America awakens to a rather surreal morning. This is a horrific act of political violence that ought to be roundly condemned. Obviously, we can’t go on like this as a society,’ Johnson said on NBC’s Today.

He said he’d been briefed by law enforcement and had spoken to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas the previous night.

‘I’ve already announced that Congress will do a full investigation of the tragedy yesterday to determine where there were lapses in security and anything else that the American people need to know and deserve to know. But in the meantime, we’ve got to turn the rhetoric down. We’ve got to turn the temperature down in this country.’

The Secret Service hit back online about claims the former President Trump’s team had sought additional security.

‘There’s an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed,’ wrote Secret Service spokesman Andrew Guglielmi on X. ‘This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.’

It comes as congressional Republicans are preparing to conduct a ‘full investigation’ of the Trump assassination attempt and question head of the Secret Service for questioning about the incident.

Dramatic footage of the incident shows Secret Service agents rushing to protect Trump after the Pennsylvania shooting, but the agency was not present during a law enforcement briefing and faces questions about how the suspected shooter was able to gain access to a high roof near the event site.

Yearbook images have surfaced of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who opened fire on former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania.

Crooks is a 20-year-old registered Republican who has donated to Joe Biden in the past. He fired at least eight bullets from a rooftop just 130 yards from where Trump, 78, was on stage in Butler speaking to thousands of fans at 6:15pm on Saturday.

Bethel Park School District verified his 2022 graduation and vowed full cooperation with investigators.

A resident who wanted to remain anonymous confirmed the identity of the gunman to DailyMail.com.

Crooks was shot dead by a US Secret Service sniper after he opened fire on the former President.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

A new NBC poll has Donald Trump up against Joe Biden by two percent.

The survey was conducted July 7-9 – before the assassination attempt against Trump on Saturday – but still has the former president ahead of Biden 45 pecent to 43 percent.

When Trump is put up against Vice President Kamala Harris he is also two points ahead 47 percent to 45 percent.

Harris is being floated as a replacement for Biden on the Democratic ticket in November if the president caves to pressure within the party for him to step aside after his disastrous debate performance last month.

The Kremlin said on Sunday it did not believe the U.S. administration was behind the assassination attempt, according to a Reutesrs report, but said it was responsible for creating an atmosphere that provoked the attack.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters:

We do not believe that the attempt to eliminate and assassinate Trump was organised by the current authorities. But the atmosphere around candidate Trump … provoked what America is confronting today.

He went on to use language similar to Trump allies in blaming the Biden administration.

After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena – using first legal tools, the courts, prosecutors, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate – it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in danger.

The former president, 78, survived the horrifying assassination attempt when the bullet missed him by less than an inch on Saturday afternoon, at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

It came eight minutes after he took the stage at 6:03pm ET, where Trump began his remarks and pointed to a large graphic in the same direction where the shooter was perched atop an AGR International building.

‘The same bureau that investigated the Las Vegas shooting and the January 6th pipe bombs is now investigating the attempted assassination of Trump. This is also the same bureau that raided Mar-a-Lago. I’m sure they’ll get to the bottom of this soon,’ Rep. Thomas Massie wrote on X.

The FBI has launched an investigation into how an assassin was able to aim shots at the former president.

From Senior U.S. Politics Reporter Charlie Spiering in Bethel Park, PA

Trish from Bethel Park passed by the police barricade while taking a walk.

Very quiet neighborhood, very surprising and shocking,’ she added.

A man answering the door of a home nearby flying an upside-down American flag refused to talk to reporters.

It’s a quiet neighborhood that has no political signs in yards except for a few homes with a ‘Stronger Together’ sign urging American unity.

After he was shot in 1981 Reagan wrote in his diary:

Whatever happens now I owe my life to God and will try to serve him in every way I can.

But I realized I couldn’t ask for God’s help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isn’t that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all Gods children and therefore equally beloved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said America is waking up to a ‘surreal morning’ the day after a shooter tried to kill former President Donald Trump.

The Louisiana Republican told NBC’s Today Show on Sunday morning:

Obviosuly we can’t go on like this as a society.

Johnson said he spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Saturday night and that congressional leaders were briefed on the assassination attempt.

From Rob Crilly, Chief U.S. Political Correspondent

Trump’s top two campaign officials sent a memo this morning saying that the convention in Milwaukee will go ahead as planned, but warning staff to be extra vigilant in the days ahead

Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles say the former president is in ‘great spirits,’

They thank first responders and the Secret Service as well as urging their team to stay away from the office for 24 hours as extra security is added.

We are enhancing the armed security presence with 24/7 officers on-site. Additional security assessments will be in place. Our highest priority is to keep all of you on this staff safe.

We also urge you to recognize the political polarization in this heated election. If something looks or feels off, please flag it immediately for leadership or an on-site security team. 

Please do not comment publicly on the occurrence of today. We condemn all forms of violence, and will not tolerate dangerous rhetoric on social media.

From Senior U.S. Politics Reporter Charlie Spiering in Bethel Park, PA

Mike a resident of the Bethel Park area told DailyMail.com he was surprised to wake up to find police tape roping off his home.

He said he was watching TV from his home when he found out about the news.

‘Not good,’ he said, ‘Crazy.’

He said he got a text from a friend telling him that the shooter was from Bethel Park.

‘I’m still shocked,’ Mike, a support of Trump, said. ‘I’m glad he’s all right, I guess the bullet grazed his ear,’

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Donors have contributed upwards of $265,000 to a GoFundMe to support the families of wounded and deceased caught in the crossfires of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

The fundraiser is authorized by Trump’s campaign and more than 3,700 people have contributed.

A description of the GoFundMe notes:

President Donald Trump has authorized this account as a place for donations to the supporters and families wounded or killed in today’s brutal and horrific assassination attempt. All donations will be directed to these proud Americans as they grieve and recover. May God bless and unite our nation.

A gunman shot at Trump during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon as the former president prepares to head to Milwaukee for the GOP Convention this week.

DailyMail.com’s Charlie Spiering reports: