WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Nearly two weeks after , the FBI confirmed Friday that it was indeed a bullet that struck the former president鈥檚 ear, moving to clear up conflicting accounts about what caused the former president鈥檚 injuries after a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally.
鈥淲hat struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject鈥檚 rifle,鈥� the agency said in a statement.
The statement from the FBI marked the most definitive law enforcement account of Trump鈥檚 injuries and followed that appeared to cast doubt on whether Trump had actually been hit by a bullet.
The comment drew fury from Trump and his allies and further stoked conspiracy theories that have flourished on both sides of the political aisle amid a dearth of information following the July 13 attack.
Up until now, federal law enforcement agents involved in the investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had repeatedly refused to provide information about what caused Trump鈥檚 injuries. Trump鈥檚 campaign has also declined to release medical records from the hospital where he was first treated or to make the doctors there available for questions.
Updates have instead come either from Trump himself or from Trump鈥檚 former White House doctor, , a staunch ally who who now represents Texas in Congress. Though Jackson has been treating Trump since the night of the attack, he has come under considerable scrutiny and is not Trump鈥檚 primary care physician.
The FBI鈥檚 apparent reluctance to immediately vouch for the former president鈥檚 version of events 鈥� along with the ire he and some supporters have directed at the bureau in the shooting鈥檚 aftermath 鈥� has also raised fresh tension between the Republican nominee and the nation鈥檚 premier federal law enforcement agency, which he could soon exert control over once again.
Trump and his supporters have repeatedly accused federal law enforcement of being weaponized against him.
Questions about the extent and nature of Trump鈥檚 wound began immediately after the attack, as his campaign and law enforcement officials about his condition or the treatment he received after Trump narrowly escaped death in an attempted assassination by a gunman with a high-powered rifle.
Those questions have persisted despite photos showing the trace of a projectile speeding past Trump鈥檚 head, photographs that show Trump鈥檚 teleprompter glass intact after the shooting, and the account Trump himself gave in a Truth Social post within hours of the shooting saying he had been 鈥渟hot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.鈥�
鈥淚 knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,鈥� he wrote.
Days later, in a speech accepting the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Trump described the horrific scene in detail, while wearing a large, white, gauze bandage over his right ear.
鈥淚 heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard, on my right ear. I said to myself, 鈥榃ow, what was that? It can only be a bullet,鈥欌�� he said.
鈥淚f I had not moved my head at that very last instant,鈥� Trump said, 鈥渢he assassin鈥檚 bullet would have perfectly hit its mark, and I would not be here tonight.鈥�
But the first medical account of Trump鈥檚 condition didn鈥檛 come until a full week after the shooting, when last Saturday evening. In that letter, he said the bullet that struck Trump had 鈥減roduced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear.鈥� He also revealed that Trump had received a CT scan at the hospital.
But federal law enforcement involved in the investigation, including the FBI and Secret Service, had declined to confirm that account. And Wray鈥檚 testimony offered apparently conflicting answers on the issue.
鈥淭here鈥檚 some question about whether or not it鈥檚 a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,鈥� Wray testified, before he seemed to suggest it was indeed a bullet.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else,鈥� he said.
The following day, the FBI sought to clarify matters with a statement affirming that the shooting was an 鈥渁ttempted assassination of former President Trump which resulted in his injury, as well as the death of a heroic father and the injuries of several other victims.鈥� The FBI also said Thursday that its Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine bullet fragments and other evidence from the scene.
Jackson, who has been treating the former president since the night of the July 13 shooting, told The Associated Press on Thursday that any suggestion Trump鈥檚 ear was bloodied by anything other than a bullet was reckless.
鈥淚t was a bullet wound,鈥� said Jackson. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 make statements like that. It leads to all these conspiracy theories.鈥�
In his letter Friday, Jackson insisted 鈥渢here is absolutely no evidence鈥� Trump was struck by anything other than a bullet and said it was 鈥渨rong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.鈥�
He wrote that at Butler Memorial Hospital, where the GOP nominee was rushed after the shooting, he was evaluated and treated for a 鈥淕unshot Wound to the Right Ear.鈥�
鈥淗aving served as an Emergency Medicine physician for over 20 years in the United States Navy, including as a combat physician on the battlefield in Iraq,鈥� he wrote, 鈥淚 have treated many gunshot wounds in my career. Based on my direct observations of the injury, my relevant clinical background, and my significant experience evaluating and treating patients with similar wounds, I completely concur with the initial assessment and treatment provided by the doctors at nurses at Butler Memorial Hospital on the day of the shooting.鈥�
The FBI declined to comment on the Jackson letters.
Asked if the campaign would release those hospital records, or allow the doctors who treated him there to speak, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blasted the media for asking.
鈥淭he media has no shame in engaging in disgusting conspiracy theories,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he facts are the facts, and to question an abhorrent assassination attempt that ultimately cost a life and injured two others is beyond the pale.鈥�
In emails last week, he told the AP that 鈥渕edical readouts鈥� had already been provided.
鈥淚t鈥檚 sad some people still don鈥檛 believe a shooting happened,鈥� Cheung said, 鈥渆ven after one person was killed and others were injured.鈥�
Anyone who believes the conspiracies, he added, 鈥渋s either mentally deficient or willfully peddling falsehoods for political reasons.鈥�
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close Trump ally, also urged Wray to correct his testimony in , saying the fact Trump had been hit by a bullet 鈥渨as made clear in briefings my office received and should not be a point of contention.鈥�
鈥淎s head of the FBI, you should not be creating confusion about such matters, as it further undercuts the agency鈥檚 credibility with millions of Americans,鈥� he wrote.
Trump also lashed out at Wray in a post on his Truth Social network, saying it was 鈥淣o wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!鈥�
鈥淣o, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel,鈥� he wrote.
On Friday, he called Wray鈥檚 comments 鈥渟o damaging to the Great People that work in the FBI.鈥�
Jackson has faced significant scrutiny over the years.
After administering a physical to Trump in 2018, he drew headlines for suggesting that 鈥渋f he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old.鈥�
He was reportedly demoted by the Navy after the Department of Defense inspector general that found Jackson had made 鈥渟exual and denigrating鈥� comments about a female subordinates and took prescription-strength sleeping medication that prompted worries from his colleagues about his ability to provide proper medical care.
Trump appointed Wray in 2017 to replace the fired James Comey as director of the FBI. But the then-president swiftly soured on his hire as the bureau continued its investigation into the Russian election interference.
Trump flirted openly with the idea of firing Wray as his term drew to a close, and he lashed out anew after the FBI executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to recover boxes of classified documents from his presidency.
___ Colvin reported from New York.
Jill Colvin, Eric Tucker, Bernard Condon And Jim Mustian, The Associated Press
