FBI confirms that a sniper's bullet caused Donald Trump's ear injury
WASHINGTON – The FBI on Friday confirmed for the first time that former President Donald Trump was indeed struck in the ear by a bullet during his near-assassination at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
The short statement came amid mounting criticism of federal authorities for not conclusively and publicly determining whether Trump was injured by a high-powered rifle shot fired by 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks - or by shrapnel related to the shooting.
“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. An FBI spokesperson declined to comment further.
The statement, which provided no other details, came two days after FBI Director Chris Wray told lawmakers during a congressional hearing that he did not know exactly what had injured Trump.
Questions and conspiracy theories
Questions about whether Trump actually had been struck by a bullet were fueled by anonymously sourced reports that the GOP nominee was hit by glass fragments from a teleprompter that had been struck by a bullet.
Adding to the confusion was the fact that neither the FBI, the lead investigative agency in the shooting, nor the Secret Service would comment on what, exactly, was the cause of Trump’s injury. Trump’s campaign also declined to answer questions about his injury or his condition.
The FBI recovered eight cartridges where the gunman was slain, Wray said, suggesting he fired that many shots. A Pennsylvania firefighter attending the rally was struck and killed by a bullet and two other men were injured.
But when asked by members of the House Judiciary Committee, Wray gave ambiguous comments about the source of Trump’s injury.
“There’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray testified. He then suggested it was likely caused by a bullet, saying, “I don’t know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else.”
The following day, the FBI issued a statement confirming 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.”
A bullet 'ripping through the skin'
The delay in confirming the source of Trump’s injury has drawn furious condemnation by GOP lawmakers, Trump’s allies and the former president himself.
Trump said first on his TruthSocial social media platform that he had been shot with “a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he wrote.
Trump also described the shooting days later during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, saying, “If I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark, and I would not be here tonight.”
Trump’s former White House doctor, Ronny Jackson, who has been treating Trump since the shooting, told The Associated Press on Thursday it would be reckless to suggest that Trump’s ear was bloodied by anything other than a bullet.
“It was a bullet wound,” said Jackson. “You can’t make statements like that. It leads to all these conspiracy theories.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FBI confirms Donald Trump's ear injury caused by bullet