FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Wednesday that it was not clear whether former President Donald Trump was shot or hit by shrapnel when a gunman opened fire at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this month.
The FBI is investigating the July 13 shooting, which killed one rally-goer and seriously injured two others before the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by the Secret Service.
Trump was rushed off stage with a bloodied ear. He said that night that he was "shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear." He said he heard "a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin" in a post on his Truth Social platform.
A week after the shooting, the Trump campaign released a doctor's note from Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson—who had served as Trump's White House physician—that said Trump sustained a gunshot wound to his right ear that was "less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear." Trump is "doing well, and he is recovering as expected," Jackson said.
But on Wednesday, Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee that it is not yet certain if Trump's injury was caused by a bullet or shrapnel.
"To the best of your understanding, how close did the assassin's bullet come to killing President Donald Trump?" California Rep. Kevin Kiley asked Wray.
Wray replied that his understanding was that either a bullet or a piece of shrapnel "is what grazed [Trump's] ear."
Later in the hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan, the committee chairman, asked Wray if all eight bullets fired by the gunman had been accounted for.
"We obviously know that Mr. Comperatore lost his life…two other rally goers were injured, seriously injured, and then the one that hit President Trump. Does that account for…were some of these individuals hit multiple times?" Jordan asked. "Where did all eight bullets go, is I guess my question."
Wray said he did not have that information to hand, adding: "As I said, I think with respect to former President Trump, there's some question about whether or not it's a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear.
"So it's conceivable, as I sit here right now, I don't know whether that bullet in addition to, you know, causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else. But I believe we've accounted for all of the shots in the cartridges."
Wray on Wednesday said the FBI would "work tirelessly to get to the bottom of what happened."
A spokesperson for the FBI told Newsweek that since the attack, the bureau "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.
"FBI Director Wray provided extensive congressional testimony on Wednesday about the FBI's investigation. This was a heinous attack and the FBI is devoting enormous resources to learn everything possible about the shooter and what led to his act of violence. The FBI's Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine evidence from the scene, including bullet fragments, and the investigation remains ongoing."
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign via email for comment.
The FBI was not involved in security for the rally and so has not received the same level of scrutiny as the Secret Service.
Kimberly Cheatle resigned as the agency's director on Tuesday, a day after she was grilled by lawmakers about the assassination attempt. In an email to staff, she said she takes "full responsibility for the security lapse" that led to the shooting.
Update 07/25/24, 11 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a new headline.
Update 07/26/24, 7:26 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from an FBI spokesperson.
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Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on abortion rights, race, education, sexual ... Read more