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The FBI confirmed on Friday that Donald Trump’s ear was hit by a bullet or bullet fragment.
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The FBI director previously said there is “some question” whether Trump was hit by a bullet or shrapnel.
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A firearms expert told BI that a bullet or shrapnel would have caused similar damage.
In the aftermath of assassination attempt about donald trump earlier this month, the former president said in a post to your Truth Social platform that he was “shot by a bullet that pierced the top of my right ear.”
The FBI confirmed Trump’s claims Friday night, saying the shooter who aimed the rifle at the former president actually hit his ear.
“What struck former President Trump’s ear was a bullet, either whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased’s rifle,” the FBI said in a statement Friday, via multiple media outlets.
Before Friday, FBI director Christopher Wray cast some doubt when he said before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee that it was unclear whether Trump was hit by a bullet or shrapnel at Trump’s home July 13th rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I think with former President Trump, there’s some question as to whether or not it was a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, hit his ear,” Wray said Wednesday.
His comment was in response to a question from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who asked where the eight shots fired by the shooter were. Thomas Matthew Crooks he was.
Wray added, “So it’s conceivable, although as I sit here now, I don’t know whether that bullet, in addition to, you know, causing the grazing, could also have landed somewhere else. But I believe we accounted for all the shots in the casings .”
Jordan continued: “From what I understand, the first one was the one that hit the president. The first shot. Or is that not necessary?”
“As I sit here right now, I don’t know the answer to that. I believe we know the answer to that. I just don’t have it in front of me,” Wray responded.
The gunman – who was shot dead by the Secret Service – opened fire from a rooftop just minutes after Trump’s July 13 rally, leaving the ex-president’s ear bleedingone participant dead and two others injured.
When asked Thursday about Wray’s testimony on the question of whether Trump was hit by a bullet or shrapnel, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Business Insider: “Anyone who believes this nonsense of conspiracy is mentally deficient or deliberately peddles falsehoods for political purposes. reasons.”
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, appointed Wray as FBI director in 2017.
The FBI told BI in a statement that since the day of the attack the agency “has been consistent and clear that the shooting was an assassination attempt on former President Trump that resulted in his injury, as well as the death of a heroic father and of the injuries of several other victims.”
“FBI Director Wray provided extensive congressional testimony on Wednesday about the FBI’s investigation. This was a heinous attack and the FBI is devoting enormous resources to learning everything it can about the shooter and what led to the his act of violence. The FBI’s Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine evidence from the scene, including bullet fragments, and the investigation will remain ongoing,” the agency said.
Meanwhile, firearms expert Peter Diaczuk told BI that if a bullet or shrapnel hit Trump, both would have caused similar damage to his ear and that the former president wouldn’t know the difference.
“They’re both going to tear your ear off. They’re both going at a relatively high speed,” said Diaczuk, a professor of forensic science at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Furthermore, Diaczuk told BI that it is more likely that it was, in fact, a bullet that hit Trump’s ear, rather than shrapnel.
For a bullet to break and cause a fragment, “it has to hit something substantial to disrupt its integrity,” Diaczuk explained.
“And from what I saw – clearly, I don’t have as much information as the people who were on the scene looking at things – but from what I saw the day and the day after, it was a clear line of sight between the sniper’s nest and the podium,” Diaczuk said. “And if that’s the case, then there’s nothing that could cause a bullet to rupture.”
“I don’t see any indication of an intervening object that could cause the bullet to fragment,” he said.
Texas Republican Representative. Ronnie Jacksonwho served as Trump’s White House doctor, said in a previously released statement that the former president “sustained a gunshot wound” that caused “significant bleeding” and “marked swelling” throughout the upper part of his ear.
“The bullet passed, coming within a quarter of an inch of entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear,” the memo said. “The bullet track produced a 2 cm wide wound extending from the cartilaginous surface of the ear.”
Update July 26, 2024: This story has been updated to include a statement from the FBI that a “bullet, either whole or fragmented into smaller pieces,” struck Trump’s ear.
Read the original article at Business Insider
