Emergency Doctors Determine that Trump was Struck by a Rifle Bullet

[Richard Smith]

Below is a link to a New York Times article from almost two weeks after the assassination attempt, that has flown under the radar.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/25/us/politics/fbi-bullet-trump-rally.html

Again, here is the critical sentence:

This lays to rest several false arguments made by those who support the notion that Trump must have been hit by a bullet, a fragment is impossible:

* "There is no object that a bullet could have struck that would produce fragments."

FALSE: The presence of these fragments near the stage proves there was at least one object a bullet could have hit, and which MUST have hit, which did would produce fragments.

* "The lack of any damage, any damage what so ever, to the Teleprompter PROVES no fragments COULD POSSIBLY be produced.

FALSE: There were other objects a bullet could have hit before reaching the stage, like the four metal hand rails. The lack of damage to the Teleprompter proves nothing.

* "No object was in the line of sight from the shooter to the target".

FALSE: Assuming the shot is lined up correctly, and a stupid firing position was not chosen, there is never an object in the line of sight for any attempted shooting. But this reasoning assumes that all shots will be perfectly aimed. The reality if that not all shots are perfectly aimed, particularly with shooters without expert training. And so, in reality, fragments are sometimes produced by a bullet, even though there was a direct line path the bullet could have taken to the target without hitting anything else.

* There were absolutely no policemen anywhere near Trump when the shot was fired. The only up close protection personal were Secret Service Agents.

FALSE: At least one of these "Imaginary" policemen is clearly visible in a video near the foot of the podium within a minute of the first shot.

* The early report of four motorcycle policemen standing near Trump being wounded is possibly a dubious early story.

FALSE: The media reported five days later that two of these four motorcycle policemen who were injured were in minor hot water because they might not have had proper authorization to travel to Butler to protect Trump. A strange subsequence story about "Imaginary" motorcycle policemen who were slightly wounded, like Trump.


Clearly the four motorcycle policemen were most likely injured by flying fragments. No one argues "No, each were slightly injured by a rifle bullet." The natural scenario, until proven otherwise, is that all five individuals who were standing near each other, Trump and the four motorcycle policemen, were slightly wounded by fragments, possibly by bullet fragments, but not by rifle bullets.

And there is a clear motive for Trump to lie about this. To sound more heroic for being hit a bullet, rather than a fragment that could have been carrying just one one thousandth of the kinetic energy of a rifle bullet.

I'm not seeing any police officers anywhere near Trump.  If they were motorcycle escort officers, they were well beyond him back near the grandstand with the vehicles.  Again, however, it makes no apparent difference whether Trump was hit by a BULLET or BULLET fragment.  Either way, he was shot.  You don't become the victim of something other than a shooting because you are hit by a bullet fragment.  The FBI has said that Trump was hit by a bullet.  That rules out a fragment from something other than a bullet as you have dishonestly suggested.  The clear line of sight strongly suggests he was grazed by the bullet.  Those sitting in the grandstands are much more likely to be hit by a fragmented bullet that strikes the grandstand than someone standing out in the open. 

[Zeon Mason]

That possible obstacle in the video is BELOW the base  of the podium itself.

So my position is still that Crooks 1st and 2nd shots were presumably aimed to hit Trump at the very least in  the upper center of his body which is well above the base of the podium and approx half his body above the top of the podium = a target area approx 3 ft high x 1ft 6” wide.

Since I doubt seriously any average person familiar with the AR 15 and having some experience shooting a rifle such as Crooks had, would likely miss far off a 3ft x 1ft 6 in target (above the top of the podium) at range of 130 yds , then I remain skeptical of the fragment theory.

The only possibility imo could be some kind of ricochet of the bullet #1 or # 2 striking the very top edge of the podium then flying upwards at an some angle to the right  side of Trumps head when his head was NOT turned so far towards to his right  ( towards Crooks).

All the videos seem to indicate Trump being hit as his head is turned all the way to his right so that would preclude a ricochet off the podium top edge because the bullet or fragment of bullet would have to traverse thru some part of Trumps mid upper body before reaching the right  side of his head.

IDK if the shot which is captured in the photo wizzing past Trumps head was fragment or whole bullet, but the trajectory line  ( reflected sunlight illumination of the projectile) looks likes it’s too  horizontal to be plausibly an upward angle ricochet from the top edge of the podium.

[Andrew Mason]

If the shutter speed was 1/400 th or 1/500 th of a second, then it is consistent with a bullet speed of 2700 feet per second. But if the shutter speed was 1/100 th of a second, then it is consistent with a much slower speed, which is consistent with a fragment. Which is also consistent with causing a minor wound. And not blasting the top of the ear off. And likely continuing on to crack the skull, unless the head just happened to be turned perfectly.

Whether it is a rifle bullet or a fragment, it takes a good deal of luck to capture the image of a projectile path. But it takes several times more luck to capture the image of a rifle bullet than it does of a fragment. So I still think it is more likely an image of a fragment than of a rifle bullet.

In any case, we do not have enough information to conclude it was an image of a rifle bullet because we do not know the all important shutter speed.

If the shutter speed was 1/100th of a second, then the flash limit would not be 1/400th of a second (full frame: 35.9x24 mm) or 1/500th of a second (APS-C 25.1x16.7 mm).  The flash sync limit is the shortest exposure time in which the sensor is fully exposed, that is with the first curtain fully open and the second has not started to cover the sensor.