Was Trump Hit By Bullet? FBI Directors Casts Doubt During House Testimony | US News LIVE

e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e things physical evidence in the person's resonance you might see a Manifesto things like that we're not seeing that yet um but we are digging in hard because this is one of the central questions for us what I can say is that uh the shooter appears to have uh done a lot of searches of public figures in general but so far we're seeing kind of news articles and things like that and so the images that have been reported about really what we're talking about there are when you when you do a news search of an article I see the image appears in the cache as opposed to like a search for that specific individual uh but again I really want be clear that that's a place that we're doing a lot of work right now uh and some more to come on that well I thank you for that clarification we're interested also in um the role of access to weapons uh when it comes to this terrible crime the shooter used a semi-automatic rifle really a weapon of war that sadly has also been used in mass shootings around the country including in my own District it seems to me that the assault weapons ban that was once in place has to be a part of the national answer to curbing the epidemic of gun violence in America I wonder uh if you could with your help director Ry understand a few aspects of the investigation it's my understanding that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco firearms and explosives ATF was quickly able to trace the gun the gun uh the guns purchaser using records from an outof business gun store records that the government is re re required to correct some of my colleagues on the other side of the AIS have suggested that collection should stop there have been efforts to digitize it which have been resisted can you tell us about how the the origin of this gun purchase was discovered and uh the technology used what I well I guess what I can say is um the uh we located a number of firearms uh associ ated with the shooter and his family uh I think it was a total of I think 14 in the house um the uh weapon that he used uh for the attempted assassination uh was an AR style rifle uh that was purchased legally uh that he um is my understanding uh acquired I think bought actually from his father who was the one who originally bought it uh again and legally thank you Mr chairman my time has expired so I yield back gentle lady Yi's back gentlemen from California's recogniz thank you uh director I'll try to ask questions that that are answerable too I think that's been done pretty well on both sides uh you do the advanced threat assessment and deliver that information as to the general threat and then specifics as to protected people to the Secret Service is that correct well sort of uh the secret service does a threat assessment but they're doing that based on intelligence that they receive from a number of sources including of course the FBI so we share whenever we have threat information related to a particular individual or protecte then we share it with the secret service at a number of levels so you're a participant But ultimately the responsibility for threat assessment as to these individuals belongs to the Secret Service well again the threat assessment for the individual belongs to the secret service but we are important part of that because we share threat information if we have any uh they get threat information from a variety of sources so and and you get them from that same variety of sources they they've got no sources that are ex excluded from the FBI do they well not I don't know I'm not aware of any that are excluded from the FBI but they may receive information that comes directly to them that didn't come to us sure okay uh director do you believe that former president Trump was a a high-risk threat under under your assessment well I I believe that former president Trump uh can really frankly like any president or former president is a very high profile figure and attracts a lot of unfortunately the kind of threat' been talking about it's fair to say not on a scale of one to a million with little nuances but on a scale of 1 to 10 president Trump's risk was very similar to a current president very similar to because he was the presumptive nominee and leading in the polls and so on that that uh that he was a high risk by any standard is that correct certainly there's a reason why he has so much protection around him okay uh Robert F Kennedy Jr the son of assassinated Senator and the nephew of an assassinated President would you say he was also as a presidential candidate at significant risk again I think any presidential candidate raises some level of risk it vary from candidate no but it's clearly a risk okay um so uh in a nutshell the day before this attack president Trump was documented not to have gotten on multiple occasions from the Secret Service what they asked for the day after it looks like they're getting more the day before RFK had been denied by the president multiple times Secret Service protection the day day after he now has it so now my question is is the actions of a 20-year-old with a a lone gunman on a roof sufficient to change the risk assessment in your mind for president Trump and RFK or are we just realizing the threat that was always there and being more appropriate in matching it and and I know that's a little vague but but you've been at this for a long time hindsight is 20 20 now that we have hindsight is it fair to say that giving Robert F Kennedy Jr security upping the security including drones overhead support for the president former president these are all things that in hindsight should have been done the day before well let me try to answer your question this way of course as I said you know the assessments of the level of security to be provided to individual protection no I understand it's a secret service decision but what I would say to you uh is that and I've been saying for quite some time uh including in front of Committees of this Congress that we are in an elevated threat we have been for some time uh and that comes from a variety of quarters uh it is a it is quite frankly a dangerous time to be a prominent public official in in regards to that the other side has spent a lot of time talking about what people on the right have said but there was an attempted assassination on the Supreme Court Justice we have had the highest ranking Senator on the other side of this body uh saying that there were actions that they were accountable we have had multiple members of Congress in both the house and the Senate uh berating the the character of uh members of the Supreme Court as a result of their uh uh their their decisions made both you know sometimes 63 sometimes unanimous whatever are those comments not any one of them but are those comments and the generation of that sort of oh this guy's bad for democracy this this Supreme Court Justice is a threat to democracy is that the kind of thing that raises the Threat Level and would you caution against that well I I do believe that uh we've seen an increase in threats of violence which again that's the FBI's Lane not rhetoric no matter how Despicable or heated it is is but violence and threats of violence we have seen an uptake in threats towards judges among other prominent public officials including as you say a case that we helped investigate involving a threat to a sitting Supreme Court Justice um an attempt an attempt right um and uh I think it's a reflection of a broader phenomenon that we are seeing in this country uh where people again very passionate I respect that very angry I respect that but there's a right way and a wrong way to express yourself when you're angry and and violence and threats of violence just can't be it and that's where we fit in we it's not my role as FBI director to call out you know particular people's rhetoric there's a place for that um but that's that's not my role as FBI director but but when it turns to violence and threats of violence that is has to be treated as unacceptable and that's the way we look at it thank you Mr chairman I yield back dor when the FBI learned that Iran is threatening president Trump's life so I want to I want to be a little bit careful here not to talk about specific classified information but um we have been for quite some time uh and I'll stick with what's in the open record we for some time and I in particular for some time have been calling out uh the efforts by the Iranian government to attempt to retaliate for the uh the killing of solomani by going after uh current or former prominent us officials and we've even had an indictment against it and I think that we need to recognize the brazenness of the Iranian regime including right here in the United States and I expect that we're going to see more of it and I expect there'll be more coming on that I'm not aware of any threat information uh related to protes that wasn't you know passed in a timely way but I can't really get into specifics here it's it it's minority's time here but I just felt that was a question the committee need to understand and it say and it sounds like you've known that for a long Secret Service any information related to threats against uh the former president which again as we've sort of talked about is um happens all too often is something that we have a whole process we we routinely share with secret service at a number of levels in a timely way and to my knowledge that has consistently been followed gentleman from Georgia is recognized thank you Mr chairman uh thank you for being here director Ray um director Ray the FBI is the independent law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice is that correct yes and does the FBI director currently uh report to [Music] anyone director Ray what specific speically is the FB FBI doing to reinforce that such decisions are in fact for the private companies to make and not the administration so uh I think the best way to summarize it is that the guidance uh makes uh all kinds of additional steps to underscore that the FBI has no interest in participating in any way whatsoever in the company's decision making that companies are completely free to take any actions on their own that we are simply passing information onto them uh for them to do whatever it is they want to do independently uh consistent with I should say uh I very much appreciate the Supreme Court's finding that no evidence that the FBI coerced platforms to take content down well I don't believe that that's what the Supreme Court found what the Supreme Court found was that the parties involved didn't have standing but I think there's a whole body of evidence and legal analysis demonstrating that in fact this Administration was violating the First Amendment rights of of folks through social media companies I'm just going to ask one very one final very quick question if the FBI was involved in the removal or restriction of speech of Americans do you agree that this would be a violation of the First Amendment well again I'm not going to engage in hypotheticals my understanding and my strong view for everything I've seen is that we did not violate the First Amendment okay lady y's back gentleman from Texas recognize thank you director i' I've just got two easy questions for you in February Donald Trump Jr received a letter containing a white suspicious powder that read quot Lee Harvey Oswald's grandson must complete his contract end quote the United States Secret Service and the FBI said they would investigate the matter and five months later no more information has been released I've also visited with Mr Trump and he has not received any information either why is that so as I sit here right now I'm not familiar with the specific ific investigation but I do know that we uh have had unfortunately quite a few investigations of um threatening mailings and white powder letters and things like that so I'm happy to drill into it and have us Circle back to see if there's more information we can share about it thank you and would you maybe Circle back to the Mr Trump Donald Jr I think they'd like an update as well uh sure let me again I don't like I said I'm not familiar with the specifics but I'm happy to have us look into it and get back to whoever we need to get back to thank you uh next question the Pittsburgh field office now handling the assassination attempt investigation is that right uh well there several there Pittsburgh field office is the lead office we obviously have lots of I think it's about half maybe over half of the FBI's field offices are working on this including almost every headquarters division uh so we have lots and lots and lots several hundreds of of employees working on it Pittsburgh's the lead okay this is the same office that botched the hunter Biden laptop case and they in my view and my constituents and many Americans displayed a clear reluctance qu that's a quote reluctance to really do any tasking quote effectively failing to investigate according to the US attorney on the case my question is how can we trust this office and why does it keep reappearing in critical election related investigations or is that just dumb luck so I want to be a little bit careful on what I can say here because some of what you're talking about relates to to an ongoing investigation being led to by the special counsel uh Mr Weise but what I can tell you is that the Pittsburgh field office's involvement in the matter that you're talking about was uh the choice to by the attorney general attorney general bar to have the US attorney and the FBI phield office in Pittsburgh handle that particular matter as to your summary or characterization of what uh us attorney now former US attorney Brady actually said I'd have to see the context I'm not quite sure that's what he said but I I think as to your overall question about confidence what I would tell you is we have that's the point I'm trying to make about the sheer breadth of our investigation yes the Pittsburgh field office is the office on the ground that's where the the attempted assassination happened but we are using the full might of the FBI criminal and National Security that's why I'm pointing out that multiple field offices over half of our field offices almost every headquarters division several hundreds of employees these are people uh who are working around the clock to deal with this historic attack uh and I have the utmost confidence in those hundreds of employees agents analysts and professional staff and the American people should too I yield to Mr Jordan I appreciate the gentleman yielding uh uh director I guess I'm not clear exactly where all you said there were eight shell casings on the roof so eight bullets were fired we we obviously know that Mr compor lost his life two other two other rally goers were injured seriously injured and then the one that hit president Trump um does that account for was were some of these individuals hit multiple times where did all eight bullets go is I guess my question uh I don't have that in front of me I'm happy to Circle back and get that to you uh assuming we have that information yet um uh as I said I think with uh with respect to former president Trump um there's it there some question about whether or not uh it's a bullet or shrapnel that you know that hit his ear so it's it's conceivable although as I sit here right now I don't know whether that bullet in addition to you know causing the grazing could have also landed somewhere else um but I believe we've accounted for all of the shots and the cartridges so let us get that it's my understanding that the very first one was the one that hit the president is that very first shot or is that not accurate I I don't as I sit here right now I don't know the answer to that I believe we know the answer to that I just don't have it in front of me okay okay um is there any chance this this I mean it seems to me that this bad guy this shooter was was focused on President Trump but you indicated that he purchased 50 rounds of of ammunition I believe earlier that day do you have any indications thus far in your investigation that in addition to going after and trying to assassinate the former president he was also looking to do a lot more damage to other individuals that's a hard question to answer what I would say is I I agree with you that um his Preparatory activity uh is what we've seen so far the limited information that that has been relevant and interesting about his Preparatory activity does seem to be that he had settled on former president Trump as a Target and this rally as his moment to try to take a shot um but uh in addition to the 50 rounds of course you have the issue of these explosive devices right um and so what else he may have had in mind is is something that I think is very much of an open question um on the one hand you have these explosive devices including the one still back in his home uh that wasn't in quite the same stage as the one in the vehicle vehicles uh ones in the vehicle but uh he clearly had those explosive devices for some reason um and so we're trying to figure that out as I've said before you know sometimes in these kind of situations you find like a Manifesto or something like that it's frustrating to us and I'm sure frustrating to you and the American people that we haven't found anything quite like that we'd love to have a road map that tells us exactly what he was thinking we haven't found that yet doesn't mean we won't we're looking all over the place and we're going to leave no stone unturned thank you gentleman from Texas is recognized thank you Mr chair thank you director for being here here today I know it's been a very long day busy day on Capitol Hill and also I want to apologize in advance if there's any uh repetitive questions uh from me uh but I have to ask uh giving that our stting president resigned from The Campaign on Sunday and the Secret Service director resigned yesterday you don't plan on resigning anytime soon do you sir no sir good to go uh earlier today uh you told this committee that you recovered eight bullet cartridges from the roof next to the shooter and given that testimony I have two questions for you uh how many shots were fired at president Trump and how many shots were fired in total of the entire day I know I keep hearing eight but were there any more that that were unaccounted for uh the best information I have right now is eight shots uh as to the sequence uh I'm not sure I have that sitting here right now as I said to the chairman I'm going to go back to my team and see if if we've got that nailed down yet and if we have I'm happy to share it with with you and the rest of the committee please do sir thank you very much for that uh you also mentioned that that the shooter used encrypted messages to uh to to communicate specifically do you know what apps or what what apps he was using to communicate and can you confirm if he was communicating with any foreign Nationals through the encrypted messages so as to the names of the apps I don't have that uh right here in front of me um as far as um communicating with any foreign actors um I'll say two things one we haven't as I I think I've testified before we have not uh at the moment at least identified any accomplice or co-conspirators foreign or domestic so that uh as to foreign contacts of course that's part of why we want to get access to the uh encrypted messages because um that might tell us whether he'd been in contact with somebody thank you um let's talk about motive I know the FBI has taken the taken a lead role in investigating the assassination on on President Trump uh your team has uh searched the shooter's phone conducted countless interviews then extensive research into his motives as of today July 24th 2024 do you and your team know the motive of the shooter or have any idea on what could have driven it well know and have any idea are two two very different things um we do not know the motive um that is obviously one of the central questions in our investigation uh and it's been very frustrating to us that a lot of the usual kind of lwh hanging fruit places that we would find that have not yielded uh significant Clues uh about his motive having said that uh we have seen indications that he was interested in public figures uh and that in the period um around July 6th leading up to July 13th uh he does seem to have become very focused on this particular rally and former president Trump but exactly what his thought process was in doing that that's something that's still very much under investigation I want to make something clear clear the American people try to help out what motive could be uh and again it's not my job to steer it but here are some of my thoughts uh I'm not sure about motive either specifically but I can tell you that after this assassination of 10 people on both sides have said that both parties need to tone down the rhetoric uh but recently just on Monday in fact President Biden called into the Harris campaign event and said that President Trump was a threat to democracy just take a look behind me at this at these photos this is a magazine cover of the new Republic from June 2024 published just one month before the assassination attempt on President Trump in a tweet explaining the cover the new Republic the the new Republic said this today we at the new Republic think we can spend this this election year in one of two ways we can spend it debating rather Trump meets the nine or 17 points that Define fascism or we could spend it saying he's damn close enough and we'd better fight we unreservedly choose the latter course now sir I I know you said that the FBI doesn't have a clear motive yet and you've you've explain that but in your professional experience as an investigator do you think that language like this could radicalize someone to engage in political violence I certainly understand the point of the question what I would tell you is that uh respectfully uh I don't think it's appropriate for me as FBI director to be characterizing or engaging in public commentary on specific people's rhetoric and that's because uh it's not that I don't understand why you're raising the question but I'm saying that in my role I have to be very careful to make sure we speak through our work and we speak through our cases and our intelligence products not the FBI director uh chiming in in the Public Square on different people's uh public you know political commentary understand for the record uh there was an assassination attempt on an American president and I will be asking these same questions even if it were President Biden and my message to the American people is that we need to do better i y back the rest of my time and thank you for being here sir I know it's been a very long day gentleman yields back gentleman from South Carolina is recognized thank you chairman and thank you director for being here actually it's refreshing I was in the oversight hearing earlier this week and um although we don't have an idea on everything um the your ability to come in here and actually give way more than director cheel ever did uh is somewhat refreshing uh you saw some pretty bipartisan frustrations exhibited in that particular hearing I'm sure you've seen part of it um I want to follow up on a couple lines of questions that I had with director cheel um that she actually answered answered which was remarkable um one um she had indicated that secret service at the Trump rally had not did not have any uh radio recordings is that in your investigation is that accurate uh I'm not sure I know the answer to that uh I believe we have there may be some recordings uh on the local law enforcement side uh as to whether or not we have recordings on the Secret Service side I'd have to drill back into that and and the reason I'm you might say well how the heck can you not know well we certainly have interviewed lots of Secret Service employees so what we know from the interviews versus some other source as I sit here right now I don't I don't know so on this on this particular case but in your experience and again it's a different agency but uh she had indicated director cheel had indicated that recordings sometimes are done uh from Radio recordings I guess of what happens at a trump Rally or other thing that they're engaged in uh is that your experience as well that sometimes there are uh audio recordings of communications between law enforcement officials just speaking very broadly uh there certainly there are times when there are recordings but it'd be hard for me to be more precise than that it and I know that you can't answer whether they were here in this instance or not but what would cause recordings to not exist for um for the Trump rally if as a hypothetical what would what would be the reason that that would happen I'm afraid I I don't I don't know the answer to that I mean if they if they didn't record there may be situations where they just don't record in the first place and why that would be though I I'm not sure I can answer that thank you let me ask you this and this is another line of questioning director cheel had indicated that seconds before um this the Assassin the wouldbe Assassin fired the shot is roughly seconds is when um he became a person of Suspicion uh to an actual threat would you agree with with that assessment from director cheel well let me let me try it this way I think there are um there are sort of three in my mind there's sort of three let's say three significant moments um on this Continuum that you're kind of getting at there is uh roughly an hour before the shooting when local law enforcement observes uh the individual uh this the shooter at that point uh as somebody that was a person of concern I forgot the exact phrasing and that was based on seeing him with this Rangefinder uh no no observation of a weapon but there was something odd and off about them they caught local law enforcement's attention so that's the first moment then there's a second moment which is um uh you know I think just minutes before the shooting where local law enforcement um observed him on the roof but didn't see a weapon is my understanding at that point uh and at that point uh their level of concern obviously was even higher and then there's the third moment uh which is that moment when local law enforcement saw him uh you know the officer who climbed up with the assistance of his colleague saw the shooter in the prone position uh with the weapon and that's second before the uh event and so you know terminology I know I'm not sure but it seems to me there's an evolution of concern over that time period correct and and escalating uh concern what what uh at what point and this again I just don't know so I'm curious at what point is uh say the sniper who um who killed Mr Crooks at what point is he able to fire a shot and does he have to have authorization in which to do that uh I don't know that I know secret Services Rules of Engagement uh in that situation um it's possible that our interview uh of the counter sniper has uh uncovered that again our Focus has been I certainly understand why you're asking the question but our Focus has been on the shooter himself and his actions uh and the attack uh these two other reviews the DHS Inspector General and the outside independent panel are both looking at the performance of The Secret Service which would uh I'm confident include the question that you're talking about thank you I actually think you know from from a legislative purpose and what this body will probably ultimately do uh it's it's of uh great importance that we uh break down barriers of communication and that we allow um you know officers to do their job without uh so that this doesn't happen again and I appreciate you being here thank you D gentan y's back gentleman from Ohio is recognized well once again as Congressman fry said uh we want to thank you for your time and a lot more uh information today than Monday so thank you for that I just have a handful of questions I would love to have just a simple yes or no so we could get done with this so on day one President Biden ised an executive order mandating Dei programs in the executive branch you responded by hiring FBI's first ever Chief diversity officer you're even on the bureau's website quoting saying that diversity and inclusion of the workforce is something I care deeply about because the success of our efforts impacts our operations our culture and our future end of quote so director just a simple yes or no do you still find de eii hiring practices to be Central to the FBI's operations cultures in future I believe that diversity is an important part uh is an a core value of of a high performing organization do you have any concerns that our homeland security efforts will be hampered if the FBI if the FBI continues to use Dei as a primary hiring measure I don't believe that we use Dei as a primary hiring metric I would say that we have not lowered our standards and I feel let me if I could finish it's not a yes or no question uh we have not lowered our standards and the facts back that up are you aware of a 112-page report compiled by senior agents and analysts which stated quote if the current trajectory of the FBI special agent Recruitment and selection continues using Dei as the primary and sole measure of her Homeland Security efforts will be significantly hampered do you know about that 112 page report I I'm aware of a report uh from a number of anonymous former employees thank you do you agree that protecting former president falls under the umbrella of homely insecurity well protecting the former president the uh physical security the protective detail on the former president is the province of the Secret Service which is part of the Department of Homeland Security it is my understanding that historically the FBI had 100,000 applications for special agents on file at any given time of the year so talking about slipping recruitment are you aware that on February of 2024 a letter from the FBI's assistant director for Training Division which reported that FBI only received an estimated 48,000 applications over two-year period I don't know if we're comparing Apple to Apple what I can tell you is that in the time that I've been FBI director the number of Americans applying to be special agent has gone up dramatically uh to the tune of in some cases double or triple the pce if I could finish sir if I could finish please to a rate that is higher you'd have to go back about a decade or so to find the number of Americans applying to be special agents that are currently applying okay so for the record that 48,000 is probably wrong then in your eyes I I don't know I haven't don't have the letter in front of me but I'm what I'm not sure of is that that we're comparing Apple to Apple in terms of time periods and everything else in advance of the Trump shooting United States Secret Service special agent in charge Tim Burke reportedly told law enforcement partners that NATO Summit in Washington DC limited his resources available to the Trump rally the service has similar de Dei hiring aims and failed their zero fail mission to protect president president Trump director cheel has since stepped down could the hyper fixation on hitting Biden administration's imposed Dei Rules by causing the FBI and the federal law enforcement agencies to not only miss their Prime C candidates but also potential threats well I can't speak to secret services hiring practice what I can tell you is that in my view diversity like everything else is something that has to be done in the right way just like everything else there's a right way and a wrong way to achieve it I think we can and have achieved improvements in diversity and at the same time not lowered our standards and I think part of the reason we've been able to do that is because of the encouraging increase increase in the number of Americans applying to be specially the investigation to the planning of pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC headquarters has been going on for over three and a half years and will soon have lasted longer than the Biden presidency I look forward to you proving yourselves because we haven't received any update right now on the Trump shooting since July 15th and the people really need that can the public expect a more transparent And Timely investigation into the attempted assassination of former president Trump I I've been testifying here all day about the investigation into former attempted assassination of former president Trump and we've done multiple briefings and I've answered multiple questions and we appreciate that because what you were asking well it just seems like there hasn't been a press conference to the people to go through all the different details that were already presented today and I'll just leave you with one final question um the government is not doing their job do you feel as the Director that perhaps like not only the FBI but the Secret Service needs to have a complete reconstruction do you think it's still put together the way that could best do its job the FBI that I see every single day having visited all 56 of our field offices at least twice many of them three times times the FBI that I see engaging with state and local law enforcement from all 50 states that I hear about from prosecutors judges Business Leaders Community leaders foreign Partners is an FBI that is respected trusted appreciated and that is there for people when they need them the most and that is the FBI that I see and I'm very proud to be a part of them any comment on um the other agencies uh no I'm not going to comment on other agencies appreciate your time sir you back back to the chair gentleman y's back uh director I have just a couple quick questions but I want to give uh to the ranking member a chance to say some remarks or questions and then we'll then we'll be done thank you Mr chair first I'd like to say is somebody when I grew up I watched The Untouchables and I think Elliot NES would be proud of you I don't know