FBI confirms ‘whole or fragmented’ bullet struck Donald Trump

Donald Trump was struck by a bullet, the FBI has confirmed, seeking to put an end to a swirl of conspiracy theories being entertained and anger from the former president.

Almost two weeks after the 78-year-old was hit in the ear by a would-be assassin, the bureau 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.”

Some had speculated whether Trump’s injury might have been caused by a fragment of glass or something else, and the US Secret Service had been silent on the matter as it carried out its own investigation.

Earlier this week, FBI director Christopher Wray angered Trump when he told a hearing on Capitol Hill: “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.”

The former president wrote on Truth Social: “FBI director Christopher Wray told Congress yesterday that he wasn’t sure if I was hit by shrapnel, glass or a bullet (the FBI never even checked!), but he was sure that Crooked Joe Biden was physically and cognitively ‘uneventful’. Wrong! That’s why he knows nothing about the terrorists and other criminals pouring into our country at record levels.”

Trump was captured on film touching his ear to reveal blood after several shots were fired at his rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

He was then surrounded by Secret Service agents and whisked off stage.

Two days after the incident, that resulted in one attendee being struck and killed, Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to rapturous applause.

Mr Wray testified on Capitol Hill that investigators were still trying to determine whether the former president was struck by a bullet or something else.

Jim Jordan, chairman of the House judiciary committee, asked Mr Wray whether the FBI had accounted for all bullets fired by the gunman.

“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,” Mr Wray said.

“It’s conceivable – although as I sit here right now I don’t know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else.”

Earlier this week, it was reported that the FBI was examining metal fragments found near the rally stage in Butler County to determine whether a bullet or debris had caused the injury.

“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 agency said in a statement on Thursday.

The agency said it was “devoting enormous resources” to its ongoing investigation of the “heinous attack” and its shooting reconstruction team “continues to examine evidence from the scene”.

On Tuesday, Kimberly Cheatle quit as director of the Secret Service, ending her 29-year career with the agency.

This followed testimony before legislators in which she said the incident was the “most significant operational failure” in decades.

On Friday, Ronny Jackson, a Texas Congressman and former White House physician who served while Mr Trump was president, disputed Mr Wray’s testimony in a letter on his congressional letterhead.

He wrote: “There was no evidence it was anything other than a bullet.”