Washington, DC, July 27:
Resolving conflicting accounts about the cause of the former president's injuries after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed on Friday (local time) that former president Donald Trump was hit with a bullet in the ear during an assassination attempt.
"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," according to a statement issued by the agency. Following Director Christopher Wray's earlier this week vague remarks that seemed to question whether Trump had actually been struck by a bullet, the statement from the FBI was the most definitive law enforcement explanation of Trump's injuries.
According to CBS News, Wray stated earlier this week that "some question" remains regarding what grazed Trump's right ear during the assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania rally earlier this month. One person died and two others were severely injured in the shooting at Trump's event on July 13, which horrified the country. According to the authorities, the shooter, who is named as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had a clear view of the stage from his rooftop perch and allegedly shot at Trump, narrowly missing his ear.
While the reason behind Crooks's conduct was not immediately apparent, the FBI quickly classified the incident as a domestic terrorist attack and an attempted murder, according to Al Jazeera.
Former White House physician Ronny Jackson of Texas, who was Trump's physician, said earlier on Friday that Trump had a gunshot lodged in his right ear. A social media-shared statement from Jackson to "concerned citizens of the United States" stated that, since the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump's health has been closely monitored.
"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," said Jackson.
He claimed to have gone over Trump's medical records from Butler Memorial Hospital, where the president received treatment for a "gunshot wound to the right ear," and that he agreed with the initial diagnosis and course of treatment recommended by the hospital's doctors. "There is absolutely no evidence that it was anything other than a bullet," he said. The president is "rapidly recovering" from the injury, he added, and is doing "incredibly well."
The remarks made by FBI Director Chris Wray during an oversight hearing on Wednesday—during which he claimed that either shrapnel or a bullet touched Trump's ear—prompted the memorandum from Jackson, according to CBS News. "With respect to former President Trump, there is some question about whether it was a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear," said Mr. Trump.
Trump went on to criticize Wray for claiming, in social media posts, that public trust in the FBI has plummeted. According to him, Wray should step down from his position since he deceived lawmakers over President Biden's health. There was absolutely zero shrapnel and zero glass. It was indeed a "bullet wound to the ear," as described by the hospital, the ex-president said in his letter.
According to the FBI's statement, Wray gave "extensive congressional testimony" regarding the shooting that killed one rallygoer and injured two others, including Trump.
"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," according to the FBI.
Bullet fragments and other evidence, including those from a "shooting reconstruction team" that the FBI has announced, is being examined at the location of the attack, as reported by CBS News. In his memo, Jackson cited Wray's remarks and urged Congress to fix the transcript of the hearing "as confirmed by both the hospital and myself." Notably, Jackson was a member of President George W. Bush's administration's White House Medical Unit.
And in January 2019, Trump nominated Jackson to the positions of top medical adviser and assistant to the president, building on his experience as physician to the president under Obama and Trump.
