The FBI has confirmed that former US President Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet during an attempt on his life earlier this month. The clarification was made after FBI Director Christopher Wray caught flak for doubting that it was a bullet that wounded Trump.
“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the agency said in a short statement on Friday.
The shooter, later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, climbed onto the roof of a building and fired several shots at Trump as he was delivering a speech at an open-air campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. The former president was slightly injured, while one spectator was killed and two more were wounded. Crooks was killed by a sniper from the Secret Service. Investigators have still not determined the motive behind the would-be assassin’s actions.
FBI chief Wray stirred controversy during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, when he said that “there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, that hit [Trump’s] ear.” Wray was quickly slammed by Republicans and Trump himself, who said that statements like these are why “the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America.”
Trump’s personal physician, Ronny Jackson, said there is “no evidence that it was anything other than a bullet,” and argued that it was “wrong and inappropriate” for Wray to argue otherwise. The New York Times and the Washington Post also reported that analysis of the photos of Trump’s injuries shows that they were consistent with a wound from a bullet and not a bullet fragment.
Wray was not the only one who was heavily criticized for handling the assassination attempt. Kimberly Cheatle resigned as the head of the Secret Service on July 23 after admitting that her agency had failed to properly protect the former president.
