FBI confirms Donald Trump struck by bullet after director casts doubts

Donald Trump has repeatedly referenced his assassination attempt at rallies, telling supporters (this week, pictured) that he “took a bullet for democracy.” Photo by David Jensen/EPA-EFE

July 26 (UPI) — The FBI has confirmed former President Donald Trump was struck by a bullet after doubts cast by FBI Director Christopher Wray.

“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 FBI said in a one-sentence statement Friday.

Trump and his former physician had rejected Wray’s suggestion that anything other than a bullet struck the former president’s ear at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13.

“FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress yesterday that he wasn’t sure if I was hit by shrapnel, glass, or a bullet (the FBI never even checked!), but he was sure that Crooked Joe Biden was physically and cognitively “uneventful” — Wrong! That’s why he knows nothing about the terrorists and other criminals pouring into our Country at record levels,” Trump said in a lengthy Truth Social post Thursday.

Wray on Wednesday testified to Congress that it was yet unclear whether a bullet or a piece of shrapnel struck Trump’s ear.

“I think with respect to former President Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray said in response to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan asking if the FBI had accounted for all bullets fired by the shooter.

“It’s conceivable — although as I sit here right now I don’t know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else.”

The FBI still is investigating bullet fragments found at the rally site, including shrapnel found near Trump’s stage, to confirm what exactly hit his ear.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, who served as Trump’s White House physician and treated him after he was shot, weighed in on Friday with a statement on Truth Social.

“There was no evidence it was anything other than a bullet,” the statement read. “Congress should correct the record as confirmed by both the hospital and myself. Director Wray is wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.”

Jackson referenced his experience as an emergency medicine physician in the Navy for over 20 years and as a White House physician of 14 years and wrote that he had been treating Trump since the incident and agrees with the assessment made by doctors at Butler Memorial Hospital the day of the shooting.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the ranking Republican of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Wray in a letter to immediately correct the record, saying he should not be “creating confusion about such matters, as it further undercuts the agency’s credibility with millions of Americans.”

“It is clear to everyone that President Trump survived an assassination attempt by millimeters, as the attempted assassin’s bullet ripped the upper part of his ear,” Graham wrote. “This was made clear in briefings my office received and should not be a point of contention.

“Therefore, I urge you to immediately correct your statement and acknowledge that President Trump was hit by a bullet rather than glass or shrapnel.”

Butler Memorial Hospital has not yet released medical reports regarding the incident.

“No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear,’ and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!”

Trump has frequently referenced the assassination attempt at campaign rallies, telling supporters he “took a bullet for democracy.”

Trump on Friday announced he removed the last bandage from his wounded ear and said he has “recovered well” while addressing an audience at an indoor event in West Palm Beach, Fla. sponsored by Turning Point Action.

Trump on Friday announced he will schedule another rally date in Butler but did not say when.

He said the rally will honor firefighter, husband and father Corey Comperatore, who died when he took a bullet while shielding his family when the gunman opened fire on Trump.

Trump also is scheduled to attend a political rally with running mate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center at the St. Cloud State University campus in St. Cloud, Minn., starting at 7 p.m. CDT Saturday.

Before coming to Minnesota, Trump will headline Bitcoin2024 at downtown Nashville’s Music City Center. He’s scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. CDT.

Trump on Saturday said he’ll continue holding outdoor rallies despite the failed assassination attempt.

He made the announcement on a Truth Social post, which contradicts what his campaign staff told NBC News on Friday.

His campaign staff said Trump will hold indoor rallies in the wake of the assassination attempt.

The House on Wednesday voted unanimously to establish a task force to investigate the attempt on Trump’s life.

The task force will be made up of six Democrats and seven Republicans to “understand what went wrong.”

Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Pittsfield, Mass., on Saturday for a high-profile fundraiser.

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