FBI says Trump was indeed struck by bullet during assassination attempt
Nearly two weeks after Donald Trump맥스카지노s near assassination, the FBI confirmed Friday that it was indeed a bullet that struck the former president맥스카지노s ear, moving to clear up conflicting accounts about what caused the former president맥스카지노s injuries after a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally.
Related video above: FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies to House committee on Trump assassination attempt
맥스카지노What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject맥스카지노s rifle,맥스카지노 the agency said in a statement.
The statement from the FBI marked the most definitive law enforcement account of Trump맥스카지노s injuries and followed ambiguous comments earlier in the week from Director Christopher Wray that appeared to cast doubt on whether Trump had actually been hit by a bullet.
The comment drew fury from Trump and his allies and further stoked conspiracy theories that have flourished on both sides of the political aisle amid a dearth of information following the July 13 attack.
Up until now, federal law enforcement agents involved in the investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had repeatedly refused to provide information about what caused Trump맥스카지노s injuries. Trump맥스카지노s campaign has also declined to release medical records from the hospital where he was first treated or to make the doctors there available for questions.
Updates have instead come either from Trump himself or from Trump맥스카지노s former White House doctor, Ronny Jackson, a staunch ally who now represents Texas in Congress. Though Jackson has been treating Trump since the night of the attack, he has come under considerable scrutiny and is not Trump맥스카지노s primary care physician.
The FBI맥스카지노s apparent reluctance to immediately vouch for the former president맥스카지노s version of events 맥스카지노 along with the ire he and some supporters have directed at the bureau in the shooting맥스카지노s aftermath 맥스카지노 has also raised fresh tension between the Republican nominee and the nation맥스카지노s premier federal law enforcement agency, which he could soon exert control over once again.
Trump and his supporters have repeatedly accused federal law enforcement of being weaponized against him.
Questions about the extent and nature of Trump맥스카지노s wound began immediately after the attack, as his campaign and law enforcement officials declined to answer questions about his condition or the treatment he received after Trump narrowly escaped death in an attempted assassination by a gunman with a high-powered rifle.
Those questions have persisted despite photos showing the trace of a projectile speeding past Trump맥스카지노s head, photographs that show Trump맥스카지노s teleprompter glass intact after the shooting, and the account Trump himself gave in a Truth Social post within hours of the shooting saying he had been 맥스카지노shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.맥스카지노
맥스카지노I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,맥스카지노 he wrote.
Days later, in a speech accepting the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Trump described the horrific scene in detail, while wearing a large, white, gauze bandage over his right ear.
맥스카지노I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard, on my right ear. I said to myself, 맥스카지노Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet,맥스카지노맥스카지노 he said.
맥스카지노If I had not moved my head at that very last instant,맥스카지노 Trump said, 맥스카지노the assassin맥스카지노s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark, and I would not be here tonight.맥스카지노
But the first medical account of Trump맥스카지노s condition didn맥스카지노t come until a full week after the shooting, when Jackson released his first letter last Saturday evening. In that letter, he said the bullet that struck Trump had 맥스카지노produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear.맥스카지노 He also revealed that Trump had received a CT scan at the hospital.
But federal law enforcement involved in the investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had declined to confirm that account. And Wray맥스카지노s testimony offered apparently conflicting answers on the issue.
맥스카지노There맥스카지노s some question about whether or not it맥스카지노s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,맥스카지노 Wray testified, before he seemed to suggest it was indeed a bullet.
맥스카지노I don맥스카지노t know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else,맥스카지노 he said.
The following day, the FBI sought to clarify matters with a statement affirming that the shooting was an 맥스카지노attempted 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.맥스카지노 The FBI also said Thursday that its Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine bullet fragments and other evidence from the scene.
Jackson, who has been treating the former president since the night of the July 13 shooting, told The Associated Press on Thursday that any suggestion Trump맥스카지노s ear was bloodied by anything other than a bullet was reckless.
맥스카지노It was a bullet wound,맥스카지노 said Jackson. 맥스카지노You can맥스카지노t make statements like that. It leads to all these conspiracy theories.맥스카지노
In his letter Friday, Jackson insisted 맥스카지노there is absolutely no evidence맥스카지노 Trump was struck by anything other than a bullet and said it was 맥스카지노wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.맥스카지노
He wrote that at Butler Memorial Hospital, where the GOP nominee was rushed after the shooting, he was evaluated and treated for a 맥스카지노Gunshot Wound to the Right Ear.맥스카지노
맥스카지노Having served as an Emergency Medicine physician for over 20 years in the United States Navy, including as a combat physician on the battlefield in Iraq,맥스카지노 he wrote, 맥스카지노I have treated many gunshot wounds in my career. Based on my direct observations of the injury, my relevant clinical background, and my significant experience evaluating and treating patients with similar wounds, I completely concur with the initial assessment and treatment provided by the doctors at nurses at Butler Memorial Hospital on the day of the shooting.맥스카지노
The FBI declined to comment on the Jackson letters.
Asked if the campaign would release those hospital records, or allow the doctors who treated him there to speak, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blasted the media for asking.
맥스카지노The media has no shame in engaging in disgusting conspiracy theories,맥스카지노 he said. 맥스카지노The facts are the facts, and to question an abhorrent assassination attempt that ultimately cost a life and injured two others is beyond the pale.맥스카지노
In emails last week, he told the AP that 맥스카지노medical readouts맥스카지노 had already been provided.
맥스카지노It맥스카지노s sad some people still don맥스카지노t believe a shooting happened,맥스카지노 Cheung said, 맥스카지노even after one person was killed and others were injured.맥스카지노
Anyone who believes the conspiracies, he added, 맥스카지노is either mentally deficient or willfully peddling falsehoods for political reasons.맥스카지노
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close Trump ally, also urged Wray to correct his testimony in , saying the fact Trump had been hit by a bullet 맥스카지노was made clear in briefings my office received and should not be a point of contention.맥스카지노
맥스카지노As head of the FBI, you should not be creating confusion about such matters, as it further undercuts the agency맥스카지노s credibility with millions of Americans,맥스카지노 he wrote.
Trump also lashed out at Wray in a post on his Truth Social network, saying it was 맥스카지노No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!맥스카지노
맥스카지노No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel,맥스카지노 he wrote.
On Friday, he called Wray맥스카지노s comments 맥스카지노so damaging to the Great People that work in the FBI.맥스카지노
Jackson has faced significant scrutiny over the years.
After administering a physical to Trump in 2018, he drew headlines for suggesting that 맥스카지노if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old.맥스카지노
He was reportedly demoted by the Navy after the Department of Defense inspector general released a scathing report on his conduct as a top White House physician that found Jackson had made 맥스카지노sexual and denigrating맥스카지노 comments about female subordinates and took prescription-strength sleeping medication that prompted worries from his colleagues about his ability to provide proper medical care.
Trump appointed Wray in 2017 to replace the fired James Comey as director of the FBI. But the then-president swiftly soured on his hire as the bureau continued its investigation into the Russian election interference.
Trump flirted openly with the idea of firing Wray as his term drew to a close, and he lashed out anew after the FBI executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to recover boxes of classified documents from his presidency.