Speaking before the House Judiciary Committee, Wray said that “with respect to former President Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that … hit his ear.”
Wray’s remarks drew the ire of Trump, who soon after the shooting said he had been hit by a bullet at the Butler, Pa., rally, and has since framed his survival as an act of divine intervention.
The former president, in a lengthy
late Thursday, insisted he was indeed hit by a bullet and slammed the FBI as having “lost the confidence” of the United States.
Trump, who nominated Wray as FBI director in 2017, also claimed the agency “never even checked!” as to what caused his injury.
However, Trump has not released medical records, and Wray’s comments have increased calls for the former president to prove what caused his injury.
“Donald Trump is clearly using this as part of his campaign. And if he’s lying about whether he was actually shot, that’s something that the American people should know,” said Rep Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.),
reporter Scott MacFarlane.
“I’ve waited a while to say this but the burden is now on Trump to show he was shot,” Juliette Kayyem, a former undersecretary for Homeland Security,
.
“I can condemn the assassination and still demand truth, especially since Trump is now politicizing taking a bullet,” she added. “Wray has now opened the door; this is not a conspiracy theory. Wray, known for exact phrasing and being careful, didn’t say this on accident. He is begging us to ask.”
The FBI is leading the criminal investigation into the shooting, which killed one rally-goer and seriously injured two others before the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and fierce defender of Trump, sent a letter Friday to Wray pushing him to correct his testimony “immediately.”
“I urge you to immediately correct your statement and acknowledge that President Trump was hit by a bullet rather than glass or shrapnel,” Graham wrote. “As head of the FBI, you should not be creating confusion about such matters, as it further undercuts the agency’s credibility with millions of Americans.”
But no official medical evaluation from a doctor or hospital who treated Trump in the immediate aftermath of the attack has been publicly released.
Read the full report at
.
