According to multiple reports, the FBI said Friday that an assassination attempt occurred against former President Donald Trump at a rally on July 13, with a bullet striking Trump.
On July 13, an would-be assassin near a Trump rally in Pennsylvania shot and wounded the former president before being subdued by the Secret Service. FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress on Thursday that “questions remain open” about “whether a bullet or shrapnel” hit Trump in the assassination attempt, but did not directly address the possibility that broken glass was the cause, as some media have suggested. (Related story: Secret Service repeatedly rejected proposal to use drones at deadly Trump rally, whistleblower says)
According to multiple reports, the FBI confirmed in a statement on Friday that it was indeed a bullet that struck Trump.
“The bullet that struck former President Trump in the ear was fired from a deceased individual's rifle. It is unclear whether the bullet remained intact or broke into smaller fragments,” the FBI said in a statement on Friday. Obtained By Brett Baer of Fox News.
FBI Director Christopher Wray appears before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 24, 2024. (Photo by Chris Kleponis/AFP via Getty Images)
President Trump took to social media on Friday to respond to the FBI statement, which was released to multiple media outlets.
“I think this is the best apology we could get from Secretary Wray and I fully accept it!” Trump said on True Social. post on friday.
Ronny Jackson, a Republican congressman from Texas and former physician to President Trump, letter Earlier on Friday, Trump and the hospital where he was treated for his injuries directly confirmed that there was “no evidence whatsoever that it was anything other than a gunshot wound.” MSNBC's Michael Steele, Ari Melber and Joyce Leadhave publicly questioned what struck President Trump that day and what the nature of his injuries were.
The Secret Service has been widely criticized for failing to protect rallies and stop a 20-year-old would-be assassin from assassinating Trump on July 13. Crooks climbed to the roof of a building just a few hundred feet from where Trump was speaking and opened fire on the president, but was not killed by police until a bullet struck Trump in the ear and killed a rally attendee.
The Secret Service reportedly detected Crooks' suspicious presence at the rally about an hour before he shot Trump, and several rally-goers attempted to draw police's attention to him before he opened fire.
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday after being criticized by Republican and Democratic lawmakers for failing to ensure security at the rally.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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