Donald Trump could have been hit by shrapnel rather than a bullet during his assassination attempt, the FBI director has suggested.
Thomas Crookstwenty, tried to murder the former president at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Trump fell to the ground after a bullet appeared to narrowly miss his head and graze his ear when the gunman opened fire. killing a person and wounding two others.
But at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray suggested it was unclear whether he was hit by a bullet or something else.
“There are doubts about whether or not it was a bullet or shrapnel that hit him in the ear,” he said.
“Right now, sitting here, I don’t know if that bullet, in addition to causing the friction, could also have hit somewhere else.”
The FBI said in a statement Thursday that it had been “consistent and clear that the shooting was an attempted murder.”
A Trump campaign spokesman, Jason Miller, called the idea that Trump was not hit by a bullet a “conspiracy,” adding an insult.
Rep. Ronny Jackson, Trump’s former chief medical adviser, called Wray’s comments “absolutely irresponsible” on social media.
He said they marked “another politically motivated move by the man who has repeatedly used his office as a weapon to bring down President Trump,” adding that he had seen the wound.
Wray was nominated as FBI director by Trump in August 2017.
The FBI director also told the committee hearing that Crooks had sought details about the murder of john f. kennedy in the week prior to the attempt.
Lee Harvey Oswald killed Mr. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, while the then-president was traveling in a motorcade.
Trump’s gunman sought JFK’s death
Wray said the Google search “how far was Oswald from Kennedy?”, believed to have been carried out on July 6, was “significant” in terms of Crooks’ “mental state.”
“That’s the same day it appears he registered” for Trump’s rally, scheduled for July 13, Wray added.
Crooks’ motive remains unknown, Wray said, adding: “Many of the usual repositories of information have not turned up anything notable in terms of motive or ideology.”
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It comes after The director of the United States Secret Service resigned. about the attempted murder on Tuesday after she called him “most significant operational failure“in decades
Kimberly Cheatle told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Monday that members of the public had pointed out a suspect to law enforcement officials before the shooting, and admitted that the agency was told about a suspicious person “between two and five times.”
“We failed. As director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security failure,” Cheatle said.
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Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Congress have been demanding answers following the assassination attempt.
The director of the US Secret Service said the assassination attempt on Trump was the “most significant operational failure” in decades.
Kimberly Cheatle told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee that she took “full responsibility for any security failures,” before resigning days later.
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