FBI Director Casts Doubt on Whether Trump Was Struck by Bullet

Initial reports speculated that Mr. Trump might have been hit by a shattered piece of glass when a bullet struck a teleprompter.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
President Trump is rushed offstage Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

FBI Director Christopher Wray has raised doubts about whether President Trump was hit by a bullet during the recent assassination attempt at a political rally in Pennsylvania.

In his update to Congress on Wednesday regarding the attempt on Mr. Trump’s life in Butler, Mr. Wray made a surprising statement.

“With respect to former President Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” he said. “I don’t know right now whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have landed somewhere else.”

Initial reports speculated that Mr. Trump might have been hit by a shattered piece of glass when a bullet struck a teleprompter, but that theory was debunked after photos showed both glass screens intact after the shooting.

Mr. Wray’s comments came amid discussions about the security lapses that allowed 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks to open fire. During the incident, Crooks tragically killed firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, and injured two others, including Mr. Trump.

Since the shooting, Mr. Trump has shared detailed accounts of the moment he was hit. “When I went down, bullets were coming over my head and you hear them, it’s like a zip, zip,” Mr. Trump recounted. He noted that his Secret Service detail initially thought the situation was dire due to “a lot of blood coming” from his ear.

The 78-year-old former president said he argued with his agents, refusing to be carried on a stretcher and insisting on getting up. He attributed his survival to a last-minute turn of the head. “I’m supposed to be dead. The most incredible thing was that I happened to not only turn, but to turn at the exact right time and in just the right amount,” Mr. Trump said, suggesting he survived “by luck or by God.”


The New York Sun

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