FBI Director Reveals Trump’s Close Call with Shrapnel in Assassination Attempt | US News
The FBI director has suggested that Donald Trump could have been hit by shrapnel rather than a bullet during his attempted assassination.
Thomas Crooks, 20, attempted to assassinate the former president at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th.
When the gunman opened fire, a bullet narrowly missed Trump’s head and grazed his ear, causing him to drop to the floor. The incident resulted in the death of one person and the injury of two others.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, FBI director Christopher Wray mentioned that it was uncertain whether Trump was hit by a bullet or shrapnel.
“There’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray stated. “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.”
The FBI reiterated in a statement that the shooting was indeed an attempted assassination.
Jason Miller, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, dismissed the notion that Trump was not hit by a bullet as a “conspiracy” and Representative Ronny Jackson criticized Wray’s remarks on social media.
Mr. Jackson described Wray’s comments as “absolutely irresponsible” and accused him of using his office for political motives. Wray, nominated by Trump as FBI director in 2017, also disclosed that Crooks had searched for information on the assassination of John F Kennedy leading up to the attempt.
Crooks’s motives remain unclear, according to Wray, who mentioned that the Google search on Oswald and Kennedy was significant in understanding Crooks’s state of mind.
Wray also revealed that Crooks had searched for information on the JFK assassination on the same day he registered for the Trump rally on July 13th.
While the motive behind Crooks’s actions remains unknown, Wray stated that there is no significant evidence of a specific motive or ideology behind the assassination attempt.
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Following the assassination attempt, the director of the US Secret Service resigned citing it as the “most significant operational failure” in decades.
In her testimony before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Kimberly Cheatle admitted to security lapses before the assassination attempt and took full responsibility before resigning from her position.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have been seeking answers regarding the assassination attempt, with the US Secret Service acknowledging it as a significant operational failure.
Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation came after admitting security lapses before the attempt on Trump’s life.