The FBI wants to question Donald Trump about his experience of nearly being killed by an assassin earlier this month, and a US official said the agency has yet to receive a victim statement from the former president.
The FBI is still investigating the shooting and gathering evidence of the horrific event they have always considered an attempted murder.
Office director Christopher Wray sparked a firestorm Wednesday when he testified to lawmakers on Capitol Hill that there was still “some doubt” about whether the former president was hit by a bullet or shrapnel, and the subsequent statement sought to clarify that observation.
But Trump was quick to refute that he was hit by shrapnel, saying he was hit by “a bullet that hit me in the ear and hit me very hard.”
“There was no glass or shrapnel. The hospital called it a ‘gunshot wound to the ear’ and that’s what it was. No wonder the once famous FBI has lost the trust of America!” Trump posted on his Truth Social site.
The FBI remains uncertain as to whether Trump was hit by shrapnel or a bullet, but the former president has criticized that claim and said he was likely hit by a bullet.
The former president’s campaign also criticized the idea that Trump was hit by shrapnel rather than a bullet.
“Anyone who believes this conspiracy bullshit is either mentally retarded or deliberately spreading falsehoods for political reasons,” said Trump campaign adviser Steven Cheung. CNN.
During Wednesday’s hearing with Wray, the director responded to questions about the “assassin’s bullet” by saying, “My understanding is that it was that or some shrapnel that, you know, grazed his ear.”
Wray also testified that whatever hit Trump came very close to killing the 45th president.
There were also many other startling revelations during the congressional hearing, including what the 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was doing immediately before he opened fire.
Crooks, the would-be assassin for Donald Trump, searched the Internet for “how far away” Lee Harvey Oswald was from John F. Kennedy when he shot him, the FBI director revealed in startling testimony before Congress.
Wray confirmed that the FBI had recovered three ‘explosive devices’ in Crooks’ possession.
FBI Director Christopher Wray also told lawmakers that the 20-year-old gunman flew a drone 200 yards from the scene just two hours before he opened fire in Butler, Pennsylvania, and that he had three explosives in his car.
The agency chief’s shocking revelations provide more insight into Crooks’ preparation before shooting the former president, including his online research into the sniper who killed JFK in 1963.
Wray said Crooks had been “interested in public figures” and “around July 6 was very focused on former President Trump and his rally.”
The director said an analysis of Crooks’ laptop revealed he had Googled “how far was Oswald from Kennedy” on July 6. That was the same day he registered to attend Butler’s rally.
Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed former President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
In this pamphlet, American Marxist and former Marine Lee Harvey Oswald (1939-1963) in a mugshot after being arrested for assassinating President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, November 23, 1963.
Crooks was flying a drone over the protest site two hours before the shooting and just 200 metres from the scene, Wray also revealed.
The drone flew around 4 p.m. over the rally area, about 200 yards from the stage, to survey the scene. Trump took the stage around 6:03 p.m., more than two hours later.
The FBI also recovered three “explosive devices” in Crooks’ possession.
They were “relatively crude devices” but had the capability “to be detonated remotely,” Wray said.
The FBI director also revealed that the gun used had a “folding stock,” which he said “could explain why it might have been less easy for people to observe.”
Wray could not say whether Crooks took the gun to the roof before firing or had hidden it there earlier. He said the gunman did not use a ladder to get onto the roof but rather a type of “vertical pipe.”
He said Crooks and his family owned 14 guns in total and that Crooks had visited a shooting range the day before the rally. Crooks used an AR-type weapon that his father had legally purchased and sold to him in October 2023.
Dramatic new footage shows police officers standing over the body of attempted assassin Donald Trump, moments after he was fatally shot
The FBI investigation into the attempted murder remains ongoing.
Congress also voted to create a task force to investigate the shooting.
House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated it would be a bipartisan effort evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is also investigating the shooting.