FBI: Donald Trump gunman's motive still a mystery as new photos released |BBC News

welcome back you're watching BBC News the US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan is on the third and final day of talks with top Chinese military officials in an effort to reduce tensions between the two countries on Wednesday Mr Sullivan met with the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to set up a call between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping the White House said that both sides welcomed ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication including planning for a lead level call in the coming weeks well on China's influence in the Indo Pacific region the White House said that Mr Sullivan underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan straight well our China correspondent Laura Bier gave me the latest from Beijing security adviser Jake Sullivan and China's foreign minister Wang Yi the two have met on four other occasions this is the fifth time and they do seem able uh to talk for very long time we're into our third day so we're expecting an update within the next couple of hours the last update we did get did mention some progress first of all you've just mentioned that there will be a call between President Biden and presiden she in the coming weeks now what we are wondering is whether or not that will Le the groundwork for a final meeting between the two presidents before President Biden leaves office is this unfinished business for the White House and second the other kind of progress that seems to have been made is that Jake Sullivan has met for the first time since 2016 for any US National Security adviser he's met a top Chinese General um and they've had discussions about military to military communication that shows just how seriously both sides are taking this and that is because there are a number of flash points throughout the world including as you mentioned the Taiwan Street and the South China Sea and in those areas the Chinese and the Americans come very very close together what both sides fear is a miscommunication a miscalculation uh that could lead to conflict and that's what this is about this is about stopping this competition of the 21st century turning in to any kind of conflict what about the other flash points not least the middle eastern Ukraine well that are a number of talking points that they need to get to Ukraine is a big issue because over the last year what we have seen is a number of us officials coming to Beijing warning China that they must stop helping any Uh Russian firms H with components that they could use in their war in Ukraine just a few months ago we had uh the Secretary of State US Secretary of State Anthony blinkin here with a warning saying that they will follow through with sanctions if China does not act that has happened and a number of companies Chinese companies have been hit with us sanctions China is Furious about this China says that it is trying to push for peace in uh Ukraine when it comes to the Middle East both have various influences in the Middle East and I think they are both concerned H about the Gaza War spiraling out of control so that is something that they can collaborate on We Have Heard also that they're collaborating on issues in the Korean Peninsula issues in on the war in Myanmar so there are areas where the two can come together they're also managing to kind of talk about the distribution of fenel China has been accused in the past of supplying uh chemicals which is used to make fenel uh which is an opioid creating an opioid crisis throughout the US so there are ways certainly where they are collaborating on that to curb the supplies of chemicals that are reaching the US so although this is a difficult relationship and they are trying to manage their differences there are areas where they are managing to move some some Way Forward well thanks to Laura Bier there on that uh us China meeting let's turn to the US itself because the FBI says it hasn't yet found a clear motive for the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last month it said that the gunman Thomas krooks had searched extensively online for events that involved both the former president and Joe Biden before settling on the Trump rally in Pennsylvania officers said that the gunman's online activity showed a mixture of ideologies and there was no evidence of any co- consp conspirators our correspondent John sudworth gave some background to this latest FBI briefing well the FBI has come in for intense criticism first and foremost of course for its failure to protect the former president on the day of the shooting but more recently over its handling of the investigation and the evidence and this briefing was imp part an attempt by the FBI to push back on some of those more recent criticisms saying that the Protocols of evidence have been followed and that it is doing all it can to uh get to the bottom of the motives for the attack what's interesting though is that despite those hundreds of hours of um video footage they have trolled through despite hundreds of interviews carried out uh despite the intense scrutiny on the social media use and the internet uh footprint of Thomas Kooks the gunman they are no clearer to establishing a motive he remains something of an enigma they say that his social media use shows a mixture of views no real Clues there as to motive and that although there was uh intensive planning uh leading up to the event uh the again the evidence shows that Thomas Crooks was searching uh both uh Republican and Democrat events John sudworth there with the latest on the FBI briefing