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Former president Donald Trump was clipped in the ear by a gunman’s bullet 13 days ago at a Pennsylvania rally — not a piece of shrapnel or debris kicked up by a round, the FBI announced Friday afternoon.
“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,” the bureau said in a statement.
Trump quickly replied in a post on his Twitter clone, Truth Social, writing, “I assume that’s the best apology that we’ll get from Director Wray, but it is fully accepted!”
On Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray — who Trump appointed during his single term as president — testified before Congress about the July 13 attempt on Trump’s life at a campaign stop near Pittsburgh.
“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,” Wray told members of the House Judiciary Committee. “There’s a whole lot of work underway and still a lot of work to do.”
That evening, an enraged Trump then lashed out at Wray online, posting an angry screed on Truth Social, claiming, disingenuously, that the FBI’s top cop is focused “only” on “destroying J6 Patriots, Raiding Mar-a-Lago, and saving Radical Left Lunatics, like the ones now in D.C. burning American flags and spray painting over our great National Monuments — with zero retribution. No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard.”
Trump, who has since made copious political hay of the shooting, appeared fixated on Wray’s testimony deep into Friday.
He “re-truthed” a letter posted by Ronny Jackson, his former personal physician-turned-Republican congressman, which argued that Trump had been shot by a bullet, shared another letter from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who insisted Wray “correct [his] testimony” to specify that Trump was injured by a bullet, and posted an apparent quote from former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, saying, “Chris Wray is a liar and a criminal and I hope he’s reading this.”
He continued the harangue in another post, claiming Wray’s testimony was “so damaging to the Great People that work in the FBI.”
“Nobody ever called, even out of curiosity, from the Federal Bureau of Insurrection,” Trump seethed.
Neither Trump nor his campaign have issued an official statement detailing his injuries. They also have publicly released any medical records pertaining to the shooting and have not permitted any of the medical staff who treated him to talk to the media.
