The FBI said Friday that former President Donald Trump was hit by the would-be assassin’s bullet, as the bureau moved to clean up Director Christopher A. Wray’s controversial testimony earlier this week questioning Mr. Trump’s account.
“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 FBI said in an unattributed statement.
The bureau was under pressure to clarify its position after Mr. Wray twice told a congressional committee on Wednesday that the former president may have been hit by “shrapnel” instead of a bullet.
“With respect to former President Trump there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, that hit his ear,” Mr. Wray said.
That contradicted Mr. Trump’s own account as well as the emergency room doctors who treated him, his former White House physician who has been tracking the case and even The New York Times, which said it did a ballistics analysis and concluded the shooter’s first shot hit the former president.
Mr. Wray came under intense pressure to “correct” his statement.
SEE ALSO: FBI hasn’t interviewed Trump about assassination attempt
“It’s disappointing but not surprising that the same FBI that’s spent the last eight years targeting President Trump would engage in this kind of baseless conspiracy mongering,” said Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin Republican.
The FBI’s new statement came as the Trump campaign confirmed for The Washington Times that agents still have yet to interview the former president about the attack.
That surprised Thomas J. Baker, a former FBI agent who was the first on the scene of President Reagan’s shooting in 1981.
“What an absolute disgrace,” he told The Times.
He said he assigned agents to talk to Reagan early on. They had to wait two days because Reagan was still in the hospital fighting for his life.
“That’s a key interview that has to be done,” said Mr. Baker, author of “The Fall of the FBI,” a book about the bureau’s recent struggles. “That should have been done as soon as he was able to be spoken to.”
SEE ALSO: Trump announces plans to return to Butler, Pennsylvania
The FBI, in a statement Friday evening, clarified that it does believe Mr. Trump was struck by a bullet, “whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces,” shot from the gunman’s rifle.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.