Trump Says Bullet, Not Shrapnel, Hit Ear During Rally Shooting

Former President Donald Trump on Friday morning rebuffed claims that glass or shrapnel struck his ear during an attempted assassination earlier this month at a Pennsylvania rally.

He was responding to a comment made by FBI Director Christopher Wray during a House hearing earlier this week in which the FBI director said he could not rule out that it was shrapnel and not a bullet that struck the former president’s ear.

“No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel,” former President Trump wrote. “The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear,’ and that is what it was.”

During his congressional testimony on Wednesday, Mr. Wray provided more details of the investigation into the shooting that targeted the former president in Butler, Pennsylvania, as well as details about the suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks.

“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,” Mr. Wray said, adding that he wasn’t sure.

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Video footage of the shooting shows the former president reaching for his ear after loud popping noises could be heard. He is then seen ducking to the ground as Secret Service agents rush to surround him. As he gets up, former President Trump’s ear can be seen bloodied, and streaks of blood can be seen across his face.

Butler Memorial Hospital, the facility that treated former President Trump, has not issued a public statement on the injury. The Epoch Times contacted the hospital for comment on Friday but didn’t receive a reply by publication time.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Thursday told NBC News that evidence showed it was a bullet that pierced the former president’s ear.  “We’ve all seen the video we’ve seen the analysis we’ve heard it from multiple sources in different angles that a bullet went through his ear,” he said.

On July 20, former White House physician and current Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) also said it was a bullet that hit former President Trump’s ear. In a letter published on social media, Mr. Jackson appeared to provide the first public description by a medical professional about the wound.

“The bullet track produced a 2 [centimeter] wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear,” he wrote.

“There was initially significant bleeding, followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear. The swelling has since resolved, and the wound is beginning to granulate and heal properly.”

Mr. Jackson, who had served in the Trump White House, said he had provided daily evaluation and treatment of the 45th president’s wound since the shooting. He said no sutures were required, but he also remarked that due to the “highly vascular nature of the ear, there is still intermittent bleeding requiring a dressing to be in place.”

“He will have further evaluations, including a comprehensive hearing exam, as needed,” Mr. Jackson added.

Since the shooting, former President Trump has made a number of public appearances. Initially, he had a large white bandage on the injured ear, while in later events, he had a smaller Band-Aid-like bandage on the ear.

The former president recounted the assassination attempt to a Republican National Convention (RNC) audience last week in Milwaukee, saying that he was only alive and at the RNC “by the grace of Almighty God.”

“I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet.’”

In the assassination attempt, one rally-goer was killed and two others were injured, officials said. The Secret Service confirmed that one of its sniper teams shot and killed Mr. Crooks, the suspect, soon after he allegedly fired the shots.

The FBI director said in his testimony that Mr. Crooks, 20, flew a drone in the vicinity of the Butler rally two hours before it started, had explosive devices, and also performed a Google search on Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Reuters contributed to this report.