The FBI wants to question Donald Trump about his experience when he was nearly killed by a hitman earlier this month. A US official said the FBI has not yet received a victim impact 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.
The agency’s director, Christopher Wray, sparked a storm of protest 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. In subsequent testimony, he attempted to clarify that comment.
Trump, however, quickly denied that he had been hit by shrapnel, claiming he had been hit by “a bullet that hit my ear, and it hit me really hard.”
“There was no glass, there was no shard. The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear,’ and that’s what it was. No wonder the once legendary FBI has lost the trust of America!” Trump posted on his Truth Social.
The FBI still has questions about whether Trump was hit by shrapnel or a bullet, but the former president has pushed back, saying he was definitely hit by a bullet
The former president’s campaign also pushed back against the idea that Trump was hit by shrapnel and not a bullet.
“Anyone who believes this conspiracy theory is either mentally ill or is deliberately spreading lies for political reasons,” Trump campaign adviser Steven Cheung said. CNN.
During Wray’s sentencing hearing Wednesday, the director responded to questions about the “killer’s bullet” by saying, “I think it’s the bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear.”
Wray also testified that whatever hit Trump came very close to assassinating the 45th president.
Many more startling revelations were made during the Congressional hearing, including what 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks did just before he opened fire.
Donald Trump’s would-be assassin Crooks searched online for “how far away” Lee Harvey Oswald was from John F. Kennedy when he shot him, the FBI director revealed in shocking testimony to Congress.
Wray confirmed that the FBI found 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 stage just two hours before opening fire in Butler, Pennsylvania, and had three explosives in his car.
The bureau chief’s shocking revelations provide further insight into Crooks’ preparations before shooting the former president, including his online research into the sniper who took out JFK in 1963.
According to Wray, Crooks was “interested in public figures” and “sometime around July 6, he became very focused on former President Trump and his rally.”
The director said an analysis of Crooks’ laptop showed he had searched Google for “how far away was Oswald from Kennedy” on July 6, the same day he had signed up for the Butler meeting.
Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed former President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
In this handout, American Marxist and former US Marine Lee Harvey Oswald (1939 – 1963) is seen in a photo after his arrest for the assassination of President John F Kennedy in Dallas, November 23, 1963.
Wray also revealed that Crooks flew a drone over the rally site two hours before the shooting, just 200 yards away from the stage.
He flew the drone over the rally area at around 4 p.m., “200 yards” from the stage, to survey the scene. Trump took the stage at around 6:03 p.m., more than two hours later.
The FBI also found three “explosive devices” in Crooks’ possession.
They were “relatively primitive devices,” but they could be “detonated remotely,” Wray said.
The FBI director also noted that the weapon used had a “collapsible stock,” which he said “might explain why it was harder for people to see.”
Wray could not say whether Crooks took the gun to the roof before firing or had hidden it there beforehand. He said the shooter did not use a ladder to get to the roof, but rather some sort of “vertical pipe.”
He said Crooks and his family owned 14 guns between them and that Crooks had visited a shooting range the day before the rally. Crooks used an AR-style weapon that was legally purchased by his father and sold to him in October 2023.
Dramatic new footage shows police standing over the body of Donald Trump’s assassination attempt moments after he was shot dead
The FBI investigation into the attempted assassination is ongoing.
Congress also voted to create a task force to investigate the shooting.
Speaker Mike Johnson indicated it would be a bipartisan effort, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is also investigating the shooting.