FBI: Bullet hit Trump’s ear during assassination attempt

The FBI announced on Friday evening that a bullet had struck the ear in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13.

The update on their investigation came after Trump sharply criticized FBI Director Christopher Wray for testifying earlier this week that it was still unclear whether Trump was hit by a bullet or something else at his rally in Pennsylvania.

“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, either whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” the FBI statement said.

Trump addressed Wray on Truth Social on Thursday, calling on him to return to his testimony a day earlier in Congress, where he briefed them on the investigation into the shooting that left one protester dead and two others injured.

“FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress yesterday he was unsure if I was hit by shrapnel, glass, or a bullet (the FBI didn’t even check!)…” Trump posted part of it on his Truth Social account Thursday evening.

Trump was responding to Wray’s statement to House members on Wednesday that the FBI had not yet reached a decision on whether Trump’s ear was actually hit by a bullet.

“I think with regard to former President Trump, there is some doubt as to whether it was a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray said in response to a question from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who wanted to know whether the FBI had accounted for all the bullets fired by the shooter.

“It’s conceivable – although as I sit here I don’t know if the bullet could have landed somewhere else besides the glancing blow,” Wray said.

He said the FBI is still examining bullet fragments found at the rally site in Butler, Pennsylvania, to determine what actually hit the former president, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

On Friday, Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, a former White House physician who served during Trump’s presidency, disputed Wray’s testimony in a letter on his congressional letterhead.

“There was no evidence it was anything other than a bullet,” Jackson wrote in the letter Trump adviser Jason Miller sent to X. “Congress should correct the records, which have been confirmed by both the hospital and myself. Director Wray is incorrect and inappropriate to claim otherwise.”

Jackson writes that he treated Trump after the assassination and agrees with the assessment of doctors at Butler Memorial Hospital on the day of the shooting.

The hospital has not released any medical reports about Trump’s injury, its cause or the treatment Trump received. There has also been no official report from the state or federal government or the Trump campaign, aside from two letters from Jackson, an outspoken supporter.

In a statement released Thursday, the FBI said Trump was injured in the assassination attempt, but the exact manner of the assassination attempt remains under investigation.

“The FBI Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine evidence from the crime scene, including bullet fragments, and the investigation is ongoing.”

In his post on Truth Social, Trump insisted that he was hit by a bullet.

“No, unfortunately it was a bullet that hit my ear, and it hit me hard,” Trump wrote. “There was no glass, there were no splinters. The hospital called it a ‘gunshot wound to the ear,’ and that’s what it was.”

At his campaign events, Trump now says he has “taken a bullet for democracy.”

In the same social media post on Thursday, Trump also said Wray knew “nothing” and threatened to fire him if he won a second term.

ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Kelsey Walsh and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.