Christopher Wray ‘dedicated full force of the FBI’ to investigation into Trump assassination attempt

The FBI took the lead in the Butler, PA assassination attempt but Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is mounting a parallel investigation over the Florida incident because he says it “makes no sense” for the same agency that is prosecuting Trump to be investigating his potential assassination. The federal authorities charged would-be assassin Ryan Routh with two gun counts, but DeSantis said that attempted murder could be charged at the state level.

But Wray wanted to assure Americans that the bureau was on the case. "I want to just take a moment to talk about what happened over the weekend in West Palm Beach," Wray said to a cyber conference in Aspen. "For the second time in just over two months, we’ve witnessed what appears to be an attempt to attack our democracy and our democratic process."

"I’m relieved that former President Trump is safe, and I want the American people to know the men and women of the FBI are working tirelessly to get to the bottom of what happened. Our work is very much ongoing, and we’re just a few days into the investigation, so we’re limited in what we can say at this point," he said.

"What I can say is that we have dedicated the full force of the FBI to this investigation, and that runs the gamut from criminal to national security resources … from tactical support to evidence response teams … from forensic scientists to operational technology personnel. Together, we’re working around the clock to investigate this," he said.

Wray infamously suggested that it wasn’t necessarily a bullet that hit Trump at the Butler event, but could have been “shrapnel,” while being contradicted by his own deputy who said there was no doubt about it being a bullet. Trump has criticized Wray for that assertion and for allegedly covering up the true state of President Joe Biden’s declining mental health.

Wray’s assurances come as questions continue to arise about suspect Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old Democratic activist, who is accused of attempting to assassinate Republican presidential candidate Trump with an AK-style firearm on Sunday afternoon. Police arrested Routh shortly after he pointed a rifle through the tree-lined perimeter of Trump’s International Golf Club.

Acting US Secret Service (USSS) Director Ronald Rowe went to West Palm Beach after Routh’s arrest, only to admit that the USSS had not bothered to search the perimeter of the golf course because a golf game was not on Trump’s “official schedule.”