It emerged the gunman’s’ father called police on the day of the shooting because Crooks didn’t return from what he thought was a routine Saturday trip to the local gun range.

And it was revealed Crooks was at the former president’s rally three hours before opening fire, even sparking the suspicions of the Secret Service during that time because he was carrying a rangefinder used by hunters to take long shots.

But he was never stopped or questioned.

He later climbed onto the roof of the building he was lurking near, shot Trump and killed retired volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore.

Crooks had told his boss he needed the day off from work Saturday and gave colleagues a final chilling message: That he would be back on Sunday.

Trump added that the Secret Service counter-sniper who took out Crooks did a good job ‘but it should’ve happened nine seconds earlier’

The gunman searched online ‘how far’ Lee Harvey Oswald was from John F. Kennedy when he shot him, FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed in stunning testimony to Congress earlier this week.

FBI Director Christopher Wray also told lawmakers the 20-year-old gunman flew a drone 200 yards from the stage just two hours before he opened fire in Butler, Pennsylvania, and had three explosives in his car.

Trump managed to survive the attempt on his life during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and was quickly bundled off stage by the Secret Service.

The FBI’s assessment continues to be that Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service counter sniper, acted alone.

On Tuesday, Kimberly Cheatle resigned as the agency’s director amid mounting questions over her the colossal security failures at the rally.

Cheatle took responsibility for the catastrophic lapses after she was lambasted by Republicans and Democrats alike when she appeared before Congress on Monday.

In a staggering moment, Cheatle admitted on Monday her agents on the ground were warned between two and five times that there was a ‘suspicious person’ reported before Trump took the stage.

The security chief had faced mounting questions over why an agent was not stationed on the roof from where Crooks opened fire on the former president, and why Trump was allowed to take the stage even when a threat was detected.

Former United States President Donald Trump recently revealed his wife Melania Trump’s first reaction after he was shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Mr Trump was hit in the ear in an assassination bid by a gunman at a campaign rally. Blood was visible on his cheeks and mouth. The shooter was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. He and a bystander were killed, while two spectators were critically injured.

“What was Melania’s reaction, I hope you don’t mind me asking, I know this is very personal, when she learned about what happened on that field in Butler?” Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked the former president. “She was watching live. It was all over the place, it was on television,” Mr Trump said.

“And I asked her that, I mean I wasn’t there, I was on the ground-when the world started to, when you could talk to people and said, ‘So what was your feeling,’ and she was ah, she can’t really even talk about it-”

The 45th US President continued, “Which is OK, because that means she likes me or she loves me. Let’s say if she could talk about it freely, that would be, I’m not so sure which is better but ah, she either likes or loves me, that’s nice.”

Meanwhile, the former first lady said that the gunman who opened fire at Mr Trump was a “monster”. “A monster who recognized my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion — his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration,” Melania Trump said in a statement shared on X.

“When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realized my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change,” she said, referencing the couple’s 18-year-old son.

“I am grateful to the brave secret service agents and law enforcement officials who risked their own lives to protect my husband,” she added.