Former President Donald Trump, speaking at a rally in the swing state of Pennsylvania, seemingly narrowly dodged certain death after gunshots sounded, apparently clipping his ear.
United States Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump shared a letter signed by Representative Dr Ronny Jackson (a Republican of Texas) today NZT detailing the care he has received since last weekend’s assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
The letter marks the most extensive medical information Trump’s team has provided publicly about the care he received after the assassination attempt.
Jackson wrote that he has evaluated and treated Trump’s wound on his ear daily. Jackson is a former White House physician who has remained a close Trump political ally since leaving the White House and later successfully running for Congress.
Jackson stated that Trump sustained a 2cm wide wound “that extended down the cartilaginous surface of the ear”. No sutures were required for Trump’s wound, Jackson said, but “there is still intermittent bleeding requiring a dressing to be in place”.
That dressing, a white square of gauze, was visible at the top third of Trump’s ear throughout the convention. It also became a symbol for Trump supporters who sported makeshift bandages on their right ears on the convention floor in solidarity with the former US President.
Jackson also noted that the trauma initially caused bleeding and swelling, but that the swelling has since resolved and the wound was beginning to “heal properly”.
The memo, shared by Trump online on Truth Social, also provides new details about the medical care Trump received at Butler Memorial Hospital in Butler, Pennsylvania, immediately after the assassination attempt.
Jackson wrote that medical staff treated the wound and “provided a thorough evaluation for additional injuries that included a CT [scan] of his head”.
In a on Friday in Milwaukee accepting the Republican nomination for president, Trump dramatically recounted the experience of narrowly missing a bullet at the Pennsylvania rally, saying he would describe what happened only once because it was “too painful to tell”.
As he turned his head to the right to see a chart on display at the rally, he recalled, “I started to turn to my right, and was ready to begin a further turn – which I’m lucky I didn’t – when I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me, really hard, on my right ear”.
“I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet,’ - and moved my right hand to my ear, brought it down, and my hand was covered with blood,” he continued. “I immediately knew it was very serious, that we were under attack.”
Jackson said in the memo that Trump “will have further evaluations, including a comprehensive hearing [examination], as needed”.
Former US President Donald Trump during the Republican National Convention. Photo / Getty Images
“He will follow up with his primary care physician, as directed by the doctors that initially evaluated him,” Jackson continued, adding that he will be at the former president’s side “throughout the weekend to provide any medical assistance he needs”.
Jackson, who served as White House physician to both Trump and former President Barack Obama, garnered scrutiny for his glowing praise of Trump’s health in 2018, when he said that Trump had “incredibly good genes”.
The Washington Post confirmed earlier this year that the Navy demoted Jackson in July 2022 after a damaging Pentagon inspector-general’s report that substantiated allegations about his inappropriate behaviour as a White House physician.
