INVESTIGATION

FBI Isn’t Sure, but NYT Thinks Donald Trump Was Hit by a Bullet

Video analysis suggests first shot fired by gunman at Pennsylvania rally hit former president in the year, The New York Times says.

The FBI says it doesn’t know whether Donald Trump was hit by a bullet or a piece of shrapnel in a failed assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, this month. But The New York Times says painstaking analysis of video footage and other audio and photo material suggests the former president was indeed hit by a bullet, most likely the first of eight fired by the 20-year-old gunman for a nearby roof. Rob Maher, an audio forensics expert at Montana State University, told the newspaper it was clear Trump was already flinching and reaching for his ear straight after the first shot was fired, and before the second rang out. A Times photograph showed Trump’s hands immediately covered in blood. Many questions remain about the whole incident including whether the FBI can use forensics to find the bullets now. For some investigators, it doesn’t matter too much whether Trump was hit by a bullet or a stray shard of glass. But for Trump himself, who has repeatedly claimed God was looking after him, and the MAGA faithful who have taken to wearing plasters on their ears, it was definitely a bullet.