Donald Trump’s former physician said Saturday that the Republican presidential candidate was grazed by a two-centimetre (about an inch) bullet during last week’s assassination attempt, but the wound to his ear is now healing.
The memo by former White House physician Ronny Jackson, now a hard-line right-wing lawmaker from Texas, is the first detailed account of the injuries Trump suffered when a young gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania a week ago, killing one person and wounding two others.
“The bullet passed less than a quarter-inch from his head and lodged above his right ear,” Jackson wrote, adding that he had visited Trump in New Jersey late in the evening of the rally and had been receiving treatment for his ear since then.
He further said, “The bullet mark caused a 2 cm wide wound extending up to the cartilaginous surface of the ear. There was profuse bleeding initially, followed by swelling of the entire upper ear.”
In a memo published by Trump on his Truth social network, he wrote that the swelling had gone down, and the wound was “beginning to heal and is healing.”
Jackson wrote there was still some bleeding that required bandaging, but “given the extensive and blunt nature of the wound, no sutures were necessary.”
He said Trump also underwent a CT scan of his head while doctors treated his wound at Butler Hospital in Pennsylvania.
“He will be evaluated further as needed, which will include comprehensive hearing testing,” Jackson said.
Jackson, who retired from the Navy last year as a rear admiral, was first assigned to the White House medical unit under former President George W. Bush then became the president’s doctor in 2013 under Barack Obama.
But he gained national fame in 2018 after praising Trump’s health and “great genes”, declaring: “I told the president that if he had eaten a healthy diet over the last 20 years, he could live to be 200.”
Soon after, Trump nominated him to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, but Jackson declined to be considered amid allegations that he had improperly distributed prescription drugs and was sometimes intoxicated on the job.
During his campaign for Congress, Jackson described himself as a close supporter of Trump and supported the narrative that Obama had “weaponized” the government to spy on Trump.
He also disagreed with public health officials on the coronavirus, saying wearing a mask should be a “personal choice,” and questioned Joe Biden’s cognitive ability to run for president.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
