A bullet hit Donald Trump’s ear in an assassination attempt, the FBI has confirmed, after its own director cast doubt on what caused the injury – fuelling anger and conspiracy theories.
The statement follows ambiguous comments earlier in the week by Christopher Wray, which fuelled fresh tensions between the Republican presidential candidate and the law enforcement agency following the 13 July attack.
The former president narrowly escaped with his life in the shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which left one person dead and two others severely injured.
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The 20-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Many of Mr Trump’s supporters believe his survival was the result of divine intervention, while the tycoon has also said he had “God on his side” and “took a bullet for democracy”.
Mr Wray’s testimony to Congress this week – that investigators were not certain whether Mr Trump’s injury was caused by a bullet or shrapnel – prompted an angry response from his campaign team.
Mr Trump also lashed out at Mr Wray in a post on his Truth Social network, saying it was “no wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America”.
Former White House doctor Ronny Jackson, a staunch ally of Mr Trump who has been treating him since the attack, said the suggestion his injury was caused by anything other than a bullet was reckless.
He said: “It was a bullet wound.
“You can’t make statements like that. It leads to all these conspiracy theories.”
In a subsequent letter released on Friday, Dr Jackson wrote: “There is absolutely no evidence that it was anything other than a bullet.
“Director Wray is wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.”
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A few hours after his statement, the FBI said: “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.”
Kimberly Cheatle recently resigned as the director of the US Secret Service – which is responsible for protecting presidents and former presidents – over the assassination attempt, acknowledging it was the “most significant operational failure” in decades.
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Meanwhile, Mr Trump has said he plans to return to Butler to hold another rally in honour of Corey Comperatore, the 50-year-old volunteer firefighter killed in the attack, and other supporters injured.
While not giving a date for the event, he told supporters: “Stay tuned.”
