• Source:JND

Days after former US president and Republican nominee, Donald Trump faced an assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray revealed on Wednesday that the gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump seemingly used a drone for approximately 11 minutes to survey the area of the shooting just hours before Trump took the stage, as reported by the New York Times. 

Wray testified that "around 3:50 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. on the day of the shooting, the shooter was flying the drone in the vicinity."  He further noted that the drone was "not directly over the stage, but approximately 200 yards away."

The shooting on July 13 at a campaign rally resulted in Trump sustaining a bloody ear, the death of a rallygoer in the stands, and serious injuries to two others.

Wray mentioned that the would-be assassin operated the drone approximately two hours before Trump addressed the rally.

As the assassination investigation gets more scrutinised, US Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle resigned on Tuesday.

"As your director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse," Ms. Cheatle wrote in her resignation letter to agency staff.

She faced calls to step down after a heated congressional hearing on Monday regarding the shooting. Lawmakers grew increasingly frustrated when she declined to answer questions about the incident at Trump's campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this month.

Witnesses reported seeing a suspicious man, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, with a rifle on a rooftop at the rally just minutes before shots were fired. Crooks was subsequently killed by a counter-sniper. Security and law enforcement officers from various agencies were present at the rally.

In her testimony, Ms. Cheatle did not provide lawmakers with new information regarding how Crooks accessed the rooftop or why Trump was permitted to take the stage.