‘Trump was indeed struck by bullet during assassination attempt’: FBI

WASHINGTON, DC: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Friday (local time) confirmed that former president Donald Trump was indeed struck with a bullet in the ear during an assassination attempt on July 13, clearing up conflicting accounts about what caused the former president’s injuries after a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally.

“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 statement.

The statement from the FBI marked the most definitive law enforcement account of Trump’s injuries and followed ambiguous comments earlier in the week from Director Christopher Wray that appeared to cast doubt on whether Trump had actually been hit by a bullet.

Wray testified earlier this week that there was still “some question” about what grazed Trump’s right ear during the assassination attempt at his rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month, reported CBS News.

The shooting at Trump’s rally on July 13 shocked the nation, resulting in the death of one attendee and leaving two others seriously injured. The assailant, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, allegedly fired a shot that grazed Trump’s ear from a rooftop position with a clear line of sight to the stage.

The FBI swiftly labelled the incident as an act of domestic terrorism and an attempted assassination, although the motive behind Crooks’s actions remained unclear, Al Jazeera reported.

Earlier on Friday, Republican Ronny Jackson of Texas, who served as physician to former President Donald Trump at the White House, said that Trump was hit by a bullet in his right ear.

Jackson wrote in a memorandum to “concerned citizens of the United States” that was shared on social media that he has continued to monitor Trump’s health following the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

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“The would-be assassin fired multiple rounds from a relatively close distance using a high-powered rifle, with one bullet striking the former president, and now the Republican nominee for president, in his right ear,” Jackson stated, according to CBS News.

He said he has reviewed Trump’s medical records from Butler Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for a “gunshot wound to the right ear,” and agreed with the initial assessment and treatment from the medical staff at the hospital.

“There is absolutely no evidence that it was anything other than a bullet,” Jackson wrote. He said that Trump is “rapidly recovering” from the wound and doing “extremely well.”

The memo from Jackson was prompted by comments FBI Director Chris Wray made to the House Judiciary Committee during an oversight hearing on Wednesday, during which he said Trump’s ear was grazed by either shrapnel or a bullet, CBS News reported.

“With respect to former President Trump, there is some question about whether it was a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” he said.

Further, Trump attacked Wray for his comments, writing on social media that the American people no longer have confidence in the FBI.

He also claimed that Wray should resign because he allegedly lied to Congress about President Biden’s health.

“There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear,’ and that is what it was,” the former president wrote.

In its statement, the FBI said that Wray provided “extensive congressional testimony” about the bureau’s investigation into the shooting, which left one rallygoer dead and Trump and two attendees injured.

“Since the day of the attack, the FBI has been consistent and clear that the shooting was an attempted assassination of former President Trump, which resulted in his injury, as well as the death of a heroic father and the injuries of several other victims,” the FBI said.

The FBI said that a “shooting reconstruction team” is examining evidence from the scene of the attack, including bullet fragments, according to CBS News.

Referencing Wray’s comments, Jackson wrote in his memo that Congress should correct the hearing record “as confirmed by both the hospital and myself.”

Notably, Jackson has served in the White House Medical Unit during President George W Bush’s administration.

Moreover, he was physician to the president under President Barack Obama and Trump, who appointed Jackson as chief medical adviser and assistant to the president in January 2019. (ANI)