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FBI seeking to interview Trump as part of assassination attempt investigation

FBI seeking to interview Trump as part of assassination attempt investigation
Thank you very much and we will do it right. Gonna do it right. Let me begin this evening by expressing my gratitude to the American people for your outpouring of love and support following the assassination attempt at my rally on Saturday. As you already know, the assassin's bullet came within *** quarter of an inch of taking my life. So many people have asked me what happened. Tell us what happened, please. And therefore, I will tell you exactly what happened and you'll never hear it from me *** second time because it's actually too painful to tell. It was *** warm, beautiful day in the early evening in Butler Township in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania music was loudly playing and the campaign was doing really well. I went to the stage and the crowd was cheering wildly. Everybody was happy. I began speaking very strongly powerfully and happily because I was discussing the great job my administration did on immigration at the southern border. We were very proud of it behind me. And to the right was *** large screen that was displaying *** chart of border crossings under my leadership. The numbers were absolutely amazing. In order to see the chart, I started to like this turn to my right and was ready to begin *** little bit further turn, which I'm very lucky I didn't do when I heard *** loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear. I said to myself, wow, what was that? It can only be *** bullet and moved my right hand to my ear, brought it down. My hand was covered with blood, just absolutely blood all over the place. I immediately knew it was very serious that we were under attack and in one movement proceeded to drop to the ground. Bullets were continuing to fly as very brave secret service agents rushed to the stage and they really did. They rushed to the stage. These are great people at great risk. I will tell you and pounced on top of me so that I would be protected. There was blood pouring everywhere and yet in *** certain way, I felt very safe because I had God on my side. I felt that the amazing thing is that prior to the shot, if I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin's bullet would have perfectly hit its mark and I would not be here tonight. We would not be together. The most incredible aspect of what took place on that terrible evening in the fading sun was actually seen later in almost all cases as you probably know. And when even *** single bullet is fired, just *** single bullet and we had many bullets that were being fired, crowds run for the exits or stampede, but not in this case, it was very unusual, this massive crowd of tens of thousands of people stood by and didn't move an inch. In fact, many of them bravely but automatically stood up looking for where the sniper would be. They knew immediately it was *** sniper and then began pointing at him. You can see that if you look at the group behind me, that was just *** small group compared to what was in front, nobody ran and by not stampeding, many lives were saved. But that isn't the reason that they didn't move. The reason is that they knew I was in very serious trouble. They saw it, they saw me go down, they saw the blood and thought actually most did that I was dead. They knew it was *** shot to the head. They saw the blood and there's an interesting statistic. The ears are the bloodiest part. If something happens with the ears, they bleed more than any other part of the body. For whatever reason, the doctors told me that they said, why is there so much blood? He said it's the ears, they bleed more. So we learned something. But they just, yeah, they just this beautiful crowd. They didn't want to leave me. They knew I was in trouble. They didn't want to leave me and you can see that love written all over their faces, credible people. They're incredible people. Bullets were flying over us yet I felt serene but now the secret service agents were putting themselves in peril. They were in very dangerous territory. Bullets were flying right over them, missing them by *** very small amount of inches. And then it all stopped our secret service sniper from *** much greater distance and with only one bullet used, took the assassin's life, took him out. I'm not supposed to be here tonight. Not supposed to be here. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. But I'm not. And I'll tell you, I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God in watching the reports over the last few days, many people say it was *** providential moment probably was when I rose, surrounded by secret service. The crowd was confused because they thought I was dead and there was great, great sorrow. I could see that on their faces. As I looked out, they didn't know I was looking out. They thought it was over. But I could see it though. Wanted to do something to let him know I was OK. I raised my right arm looked at the thousands and thousands of people that were breathlessly waiting and started shouting, fight, fight, fight, thank you. Once my clenched fist went up and it was high into the air. You've all seen that. The crowd realized I was ok and roared with pride for our country. Like no crowd I have ever heard before. Never heard anything like that.
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FBI seeking to interview Trump as part of assassination attempt investigation
The FBI is seeking to interview former President Donald Trump in its investigation of the assassination attempt to obtain a victim statement — a standard part of the investigation because he is a crime victim, according to a U.S. official.Video above: Trump recounts assassination attemptThe FBI also said in a statement Thursday that investigators continue to examine bullet fragments and other evidence in the attack on Trump at his Pennsylvania rally this month, but that the agency has always considered the shooting an attempted assassination of the former president.The bureau issued the statement in response to questions about FBI Director Christopher Wray’s testimony on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, in which he said there’s still “some question” about whether Trump was hit with a bullet or shrapnel.Questions about Trump’s wound have stoked political backlash. Trump has said he “took a bullet for democracy,” and attacked Wray on Truth Social over his testimony.“There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear,’ and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!,” Trump posted.The campaign also has pushed back on any implication otherwise.“Anyone who believes this conspiracy is either mentally deficient or willfully peddling falsehoods for political reasons,” Trump adviser Steven Cheung told CNN.During Wednesday’s wide-ranging House Judiciary hearing, Wray shared new details with lawmakers about Trump’s would-be assassin, including that he searched for details of the John F. Kennedy shooting from his laptop and flew a drone in the area near the rally just two hours before the former president took the stage.Despite later criticism from Republicans about the FBI’s pending conclusions about the nature of the projectile, Wray was commended by representatives on both sides of the aisle for offering new insight into details about the investigation into the gunman. Those bipartisan expressions of appreciation stood in stark contrast to earlier testimony by then-Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned Tuesday after Democrats and Republicans accused her of stonewalling them and demanded her ouster.When asked Wednesday about how close the “assassin’s bullet” came to killing the former president, Wray said, “My understanding is that either it or some shrapnel is what, you know, grazed his ear.” He then agreed that it came very close to killing the former president.

The FBI is seeking to interview former President Donald Trump in its investigation of the assassination attempt to obtain a victim statement — a standard part of the investigation because he is a crime victim, according to a U.S. official.

Video above: Trump recounts assassination attempt

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The FBI also said in a statement Thursday that investigators continue to examine bullet fragments and other evidence in the attack on Trump at his Pennsylvania rally this month, but that the agency has always considered the shooting an attempted assassination of the former president.

The bureau issued the statement in response to questions about FBI Director Christopher Wray’s testimony on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, in which he said there’s still “some question” about whether Trump was hit with a bullet or shrapnel.

Questions about Trump’s wound have stoked political backlash. Trump has said he “took a bullet for democracy,” and attacked Wray on Truth Social over his testimony.

“There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear,’ and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!,” Trump posted.

The campaign also has pushed back on any implication otherwise.

“Anyone who believes this conspiracy [expletive] is either mentally deficient or willfully peddling falsehoods for political reasons,” Trump adviser Steven Cheung told CNN.

During Wednesday’s wide-ranging House Judiciary hearing, Wray shared new details with lawmakers about Trump’s would-be assassin, including that he searched for details of the John F. Kennedy shooting from his laptop and flew a drone in the area near the rally just two hours before the former president took the stage.

Despite later criticism from Republicans about the FBI’s pending conclusions about the nature of the projectile, Wray was commended by representatives on both sides of the aisle for offering new insight into details about the investigation into the gunman. Those bipartisan expressions of appreciation stood in stark contrast to earlier testimony by then-Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned Tuesday after Democrats and Republicans accused her of stonewalling them and demanded her ouster.

When asked Wednesday about how close the “assassin’s bullet” came to killing the former president, Wray said, “My understanding is that either it or some shrapnel is what, you know, grazed his ear.” He then agreed that it came very close to killing the former president.