Recent reports have surfaced that create a cloud of uncertainty around the recent shooting of former President Trump. The question that has emerged is, was he actually struck by a bullet?
The FBI is currently investigating whether his injury was caused by a bullet or shrapnel. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday challenged FBI Director Christopher Wray’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee that Donald Trump may not have been hit directly with a bullet during the attempt on his life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Wray, whom Trump nominated to head the FBI in 2017, testified Wednesday about his agency’s investigation into the assassination attempt, and said, “I think with respect to former President Trump there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, hit his ear.” He said the investigation into the shooting, which is being led by the FBI, is “very much ongoing.”
Trump was furious at the suggestion that his injury was not caused by a bullet. “No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear,’ and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!”
Johnson and other GOP lawmakers also reacted with anger, and Johnson said he didn’t find Wray’s testimony credible.
“We’ve all seen the video, we’ve seen the analysis, we’ve heard it from multiple sources in different angles that a bullet went through his ear. I’m not sure it matters that much,” Johnson said.
Johnson also accused Wray of not being forthcoming “with some of the information that we would expect.”
Perhaps as a result of the relentless condemnation and vituperation of the FBI and other government agencies that Trump expressed in his four years as President, today the GOP politicians struggle to accept any of their conclusions and findings. “There’s a lot of frustration and concern about the leadership with these agencies,” Johnson said, apparently referring to the Secret Service as well.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung angrily added, “Anyone who believes this conspiracy bulls— is either mentally deficient or willfully peddling falsehoods for political reasons.”
A conciliatory statement issued by the FBI on Thursday said, “Since the day of the attack, the FBI 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.”
“The FBI’s Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine evidence from the scene, including bullet fragments, and the investigation remains ongoing,” the statement added.
Any doubts on whether the former president was hit by a bullet or shrapnel could be laid to rest if he or his team released medical records of his treatment after the attack. However, no records have been released and no doctors who treated him were made available to answer questions.
The Trump campaign did release a letter from Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, a former White House physician, but Dr. Jackson has a checkered history of issuing reports on Trump’s health that are less than credible.
In a statement posted on X, Jackson tore into Wray. “What little credibility he may have left is gone after recklessly suggesting Trump might not have been hit from a bullet. It was a bullet — I’ve seen the wound. Pathetic!!!”
In the July 20 letter released by the Trump campaign Jackson claims that he had evaluated and treated Trump’s wound “daily” since the shooting.
“As reported and witnessed by the entire world, he sustained a gunshot wound to the right ear from a high-powered rifle used by the would-be assassin,” Jackson said in the letter.
“The bullet track produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear,” the letter said, adding that there “was initially significant bleeding,” but given “the broad and blunt nature of the wound itself, no sutures were required.”
On the other hand, some Democratic lawmakers found Wray’s testimony credible.
Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y. said Trump “owes it to the American people to be honest, and to say exactly what happened.”
“We have not seen any medical records. We have not had an independent doctor other than a hyper-partisan, elected member of Congress comment on what happened,” Goldman said.
