WASHINGTON — The FBI is examining several metal fragments found near the stage at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, to determine whether a suspected assassin’s bullet — or possible debris — grazed the former president. donald trumphead, bleeding from his right ear, according to the FBI and a federal law enforcement official.
The agency has asked to interview Trump as part of its broader investigation, hoping to provide information about the shooting and possibly a more complete record of his injury, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss continuing the probe.
Unanswered questions about the object that hit the Republican presidential candidate have persisted since the July 13 shooting, with Trump claiming he was hit by a bullet – and considering his survival an act of divine intervention.
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FBI officials were more cautious, citing the need to analyze the evidence before determining what hit Trump — a bullet, a metal fragment or something else.
The agency’s gunshot reconstruction team “continues to examine evidence from the scene, including bullet fragments, and the investigation remains ongoing,” the FBI said in a statement Thursday. In addition to wounding Trump, gunman Thomas Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, shot three rally attendees, one of them fatally.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not answer whether the agency asked to review the former president’s medical records after the incident, but Trump has not released them publicly.
FBI officials consider identifying the bullet important but not a central focus of an extensive criminal investigation into the shooter’s actions. They are deeply interested in Crooks’ logic or any indication that he may have had an accomplice or other help. So far, they have found no motive or conspirator.
“The agency’s priority is to find out whether anyone helped the shooter and eliminate any ongoing threat,” said Michael Harrigan, a former FBI special agent who ran the agency’s firearms training unit in Quantico, Virginia.
“From an investigative point of view, knowing what happened to the president’s ear doesn’t really matter,” he added.
It is very important from a political point of view.
“With regard to former President Trump, there are questions about whether or not it was a bullet or shrapnel that struck his ear,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee , on Wednesday.
This statement provoked a violent reaction and continued Republican attacks on Wray.
“It’s shocking that Christopher Wray doesn’t know what the facts are, but that probably says more about his job performance — or lack thereof — than anything else,” Cheung said.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told NBC on Thursday: “We’ve all seen the video, we’ve seen the analysis, we’ve heard from multiple sources at different angles that a bullet went through his ear.”
“There is a lot of frustration and concern with the leadership of these agencies,” Johnson added.
In a social media post Thursday night, Trump lashed out at Wray, saying, “No wonder the once-celebrated FBI has lost America’s trust!”
Trump said there was no glass or shrapnel. “No, unfortunately it was a bullet that hit my ear, and hit hard.”
The FBI said in a statement that the agency “has been consistent and clear in asserting that the shooting was an assassination attempt on former President Trump that resulted in his injuries, as well as the death of a heroic father and the injuries of several other victims.”
It’s not uncommon for the type of bullet Crooks fired from his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle to fall end over end and break apart after hitting even a small solid object. Weapons experts say a fragment could, for example, have hit a metal support.
Still, a bullet could have grazed Trump’s ear, and the FBI has not ruled that out. Investigators found eight rifle shell casings on the roof where the shooter was positioned.
It is unclear whether investigators have eliminated other potential sources of debris. But FBI analysts appear to be focused on the metal fragments, not the glass of the teleprompters on stage. Photos of the teleprompters next to Trump show they were intact after the bullets were fired.
FBI analysts are also examining still images and other electronic evidence for clues.
Weapons experts said the FBI could rely on trajectory analysis, physical examination of any linked bullets and the president’s wound to possibly figure out what happened. A detailed analysis of bullet trajectories, images, photos and audio by The New York Times strongly suggests that Trump was grazed by the first of eight bullets fired by Crooks.
The agency could also get lucky and find the former president’s DNA on a piece of candy. But even that probably wouldn’t establish whether a fragment or the bullet hit his ear.
Another scenario investigators will likely explore: that the deadly but friable bullet may have fragmented after hitting Trump’s ear.
“The problem you have with a bullet traveling at 3,200 feet per second is that it fragments easily when it hits a surface short of the target,” Harrigan said. “It will be difficult, with the fragmentation, to say for sure what happened.”
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