The FBI’s director has revealed that investigators still do not know whether it was a bullet or some shrapnel which grazed Donald Trump’s ear during his attempted assassination.
Christopher Wray told a marathon session of the US House Judiciary Committee that the FBI was still working to determine exactly what hit the former president’s ear during the shooting.
“My understanding is that either it [a bullet] or some shrapnel is what grazed his ear,” he said.
Asked by lawmakers if the FBI knew where all eight bullets fired by shooter Thomas Crooks at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Mr Wray added: “There is some question about whether or not it was a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear, so it is conceivable, as I sit here right now, I don’t know whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else.”
Mr Wray also revealed that the gunman had searched for other public figures online, and one week before the shooting is believed to have searched: “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?"
The July 6 online search is a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooter who killed US President John F. Kennedy from a sniper's perch in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
“That's a search obviously that is significant in terms of his state of mind. That is the same day that it appears that he registered” for the Trump rally scheduled for July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, he told the House Judiciary Committee.
The FBI is investigating the shooting, which killed one rally-goer and seriously injured two others, as an act of domestic terrorism.
Investigators say they have built out a detailed timeline of Crooks' movements and online activity, but his precise motive — or why Mr Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was singled out — remains elusive.
The FBI’s assessment continues to be that Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service counter sniper, acted alone.
“We do not know the motive. That is obviously one of the central questions in our investigation, and it's been very frustrating to us that a lot of the usual kind of low-hanging-fruit places that we would find that have not yielded significant clues about his motive,” Mr Wray said.
Crooks is believed to have visited the rally site a week before the event, staying for about 20 minutes, and then returned on the morning of July 13.
More than two hours before the shooting, the FBI said, Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards from the rally stage for about 11 minutes, using the device to livestream and watch footage.
The use of the drone will add to the questions about the security lapses that preceded the shooting.
The FBI was not involved in ensuring security for the rally, with responsibility instead falling to the Secret Service.
On Tuesday, Kimberly Cheatle resigned as the agency's director amid severe criticism at the security failings which allowed the shooting to happen.
