Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump is “doing well” and recovering after a bullet fired by failed assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks came “less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head,” former White House physician and current Congressman Ronny Jackson said in a statement issued Saturday.
“As reported and witnessed by the entire world, he sustained a gunshot wound to the right ear from a high-powered rifle used by the would-be assassin,” wrote Jackson, (R-Texas), noting he examined Trump the night he was shot.
“The bullet track produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear,” Jackson wrote. “There was initially significant bleeding, followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) speaks on Day 3 of the Republican National Convention. REUTERS
Trump is seen with a bandage on his ear after being wounded in an assassination attempt. AFP via Getty Images
Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by secret service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
The swelling has since resolved, said Jackson, who thanked the medical staff who initially treated Trump at Butler Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania, where he received a CT scan during his evaluation.
The letter comes a day after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the controversial former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, downplayed Trump’s injuries as “superficial” and said the bullet “grazed his ear.”
“I don’t think there is much more to it,” Fauci told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Friday night.
Trump, 78, dropped to the ground after gunfire from Crooks, who was perched on a rooftop, erupted while he was speaking July 13 at an outdoor campaign rally.
The former commander in chief emerged surrounded by Secret Service agents with blood gushing from his right ear and has since covered the wound with a bandage in public.
Ronny Jackson, former physician to President Trump, releases a statement on his analysis of the shooting. Ronny JacksonJackson said he met with Trump at the former President’s Bedminster, New Jersey estate the night of the shooting and has seen him every day since.
“As the former appointed physician to the President for President Donald J. Trump, I was naturally very concerned, as was the entire world, about his well-being after the assassination attempt on his life,” Jackson wrote.
Trump’s injured ear is still bleeding intermittently, “requiring a dressing to be in place,” Jackson added.
“Given the broad and blunt nature of the wound itself, no sutures were required.”
Trump will undergo further evaluations as he recovers, including a comprehensive hearing exam, the doctor said.
“In summary, former President Trump is doing well, and he is recovering as expected from the gunshot wound sustained last Saturday afternoon,” Jackson said.
“It is an absolute miracle he wasn’t killed,” he concluded.
The shooting killed one rallygoer, firefighter Corey Comperatore, and seriously injured two others.
Trump is scheduled to speak at an event in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Saturday night — his first campaign rally since the assassination attempt.
