JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It has been just two days since the shooting that targeted former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. Over the past 48 hours, federal agents have been racing to try to understand what led 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to allegedly try to assassinate the former president. Today, the FBI said it has been able to get into the shooter's cell phone, a significant step forward for the investigation. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is here with more. Hey, Ryan.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.
SUMMERS: So Ryan, what else can you tell us about this investigation into the shooter's cell phone?
LUCAS: Well, the FBI recovered the cell phone and sent it to the FBI lab at Quantico, Va., to try to crack into it and access what's on it. Sometimes that can take a while. Yesterday afternoon, FBI officials told reporters that getting into this phone was a priority and that the bureau was urgently working on it. And now this afternoon, the FBI says that technical specialists have indeed been able to get access to the phone.
SUMMERS: At this point, do we have any sense of what they might have found on it?
LUCAS: You know, we don't. The FBI didn't provide any details on that front. They only said that they are continuing to analyze Crooks' electronic devices, so we're going to have to wait and see what the search of the phone turns up. Often, not always, but often phones can be a real treasure trove of information for investigators. I talked to Greg Ehrie about that today. He's a former FBI special agent. He once led the Bureau's domestic terrorism operation section. And he said that getting access to the contents of the phone is really important because of all of the information that phones usually have on them. Let's have a listen.
GREG EHRIE: Everything from geospatial data - you know, where you were, where you went to, where you were looking to go to - all the way up to your contacts, what messages you were sending, who were you calling - from an investigator's standpoint, it's just the most critical piece.
LUCAS: Ehrie says what would - what he would be looking into is who, if anyone, the alleged gunman was talking to right before the shooting, what sort of planning went into this. And that sort of information, he says, usually can be found on a phone. Whether that's going to be the case here, we just don't know yet.
SUMMERS: Right. Well, I'm wondering, could it also help answer the question of motive? Because if I understand correctly, the FBI has still not identified a motive in the shooting, right?
LUCAS: That's right. They have not identified a motive yet. They also haven't identified an ideology connected to Crooks. There's a lot of that, really, right now. The FBI says it hasn't found any social media posts or writings that contain violent or threatening language. There's no indication that Crooks had mental health issues, no criminal record. It appears that he acted alone. The FBI says that it has interviewed nearly 100 people so far in this investigation. It's finished searching Crooks' home and vehicle. It now has access to his phone. The hope is that all of that investigative activity may help fill in some of the gaps that we have right now and provide an answer, of course, to the question of motive.
SUMMERS: Right. And, Ryan, I mean, it seems like there's just a lot that we don't know. What can we say? What do we know about the alleged shooter? What kind of picture is emerging of him?
LUCAS: Well, we've started to get a picture of who he is, but it's certainly not a complete picture. He worked at a nursing home in Bethel Park, Pa., where he lived. The administrator of that facility said that Crooks had passed a background check before he was hired. She also said it was a shock to hear that he was involved - allegedly involved in the shooting. Crooks was, as you said, he was just 20 years old. He graduated from high school a couple years ago. Former classmates have spoken to the media. They say that he was quiet, a bit of a loner. His political background is a little unclear. He was a registered Republican but also had donated a couple of years ago a small amount of money, $15 or so, to a Democratic organization.
He was a member of a gun club near his home, the Clairton Sportsmen's Club. They confirmed as much to me, but they wouldn't say anything more about what he did there. The FBI, for its part, is talking to his family. And officials say that the family is cooperating with the investigation.
SUMMERS: Ryan, I do want to turn quickly to the Secret Service, which is under just a lot of scrutiny right now after this massive security failure over the weekend. And the Republican National Convention has started today. We are deep into the thick of the presidential race. What is being done to ensure that everyone stays safe?
LUCAS: Right. The Secret Service falls under the Department of Homeland Security. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas briefed reporters at the White House today because of all this interest. And he said that personnel and protective measures have been added at the Republican National Convention. He also said that the Secret Service has beefed up protection for both President Biden, former President Trump, as well as Vice President Harris and that Biden directed the Secret Service to provide protection to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who, of course, is running as a third-party candidate.
SUMMERS: Right.
LUCAS: Now, we heard President Biden in his speech last night from the Oval Office talk about the need to turn down the temperature on political rhetoric in the country. Mayorkas said today that there is what he called a heightened threat environment right now. And he said that rhetoric and what he called preposterous rumors about the attempted assassination were contributing to that, were driving it up. So clearly, there is still work to be done to try to cool things down.
SUMMERS: That's NPR's Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thank you.
LUCAS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
