The FBI announced on Friday that former President Donald J. Trump was struck by a bullet, providing the most definitive explanation yet regarding the injury to his ear during an assassination attempt earlier this month.
Uncertainty about Trump’s injury had turned into a political controversy, with Trump and his allies criticizing FBI Director Christopher A. Wray for his remarks before Congress on Wednesday.
“There’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Mr. Wray told the House Judiciary Committee, sparking outrage from Trump and his supporters.
Trump claimed he narrowly escaped death or serious injury when a bullet grazed his ear at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The incident left one person dead and two others injured. The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Trump asserted that divine intervention spared his life, and Wray’s suggestion that it might have been shrapnel instead of a bullet infuriated him.
Following inquiries from Speaker Mike Johnson, the FBI issued a statement saying it was examining bullet fragments. Law enforcement officials were working to determine whether Trump was struck by a bullet or a fragment of one.
Trump, who has been a vocal critic of the FBI, responded angrily on social media: “No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel.”
He added, “No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!”
Wray has consistently acknowledged the severity of the threat to Trump, labeling the assassination attempt as an attack on democracy. The FBI reaffirmed on Friday that there was no doubt Crooks intended to kill the former president.
“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 FBI stated.
Crooks fired eight bullets from an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. Experts note that the ammunition used by Crooks can easily fragment upon hitting a solid object, potentially causing deadly shrapnel. In some cases, shrapnel and bullet fragments can be lethal.
On Friday, a private news outlet published an analysis strongly suggesting that Trump was grazed by the first of the eight bullets fired by the gunman.
