Doctor says Trump gunshot wound ‘left a 2cm wound in ear’

Donald Trump’s former doctor on Saturday said the Republican presidential candidate sustained a 2cm gunshot wound during last week’s attempted assassination, but his ear was starting to heal.

Republican Presidential nominee, former President Donald J. Trump, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was his first public rally since he was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13. Picture: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images via AFP

: Donald Trump’s former doctor on Saturday said the Republican presidential candidate sustained a 2cm gunshot wound during last week’s attempted assassination, but his ear was starting to heal.

A memo from former White House doctor Ronny Jackson, now a hardline right-wing politician from Texas, is one of the first detailed accounts of the injury Mr Trump sustained when a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania, killing one bystander and wounding two others.

“The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear,” wrote Mr Jackson, who said he flew to see Mr Trump in New Jersey late on the evening of the rally, and had been treating his ear since.

“The bullet track produced a 2cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear. There was initially significant bleeding, following by a marked swelling of the entire upper ear.”

The swelling had since gone down, and the wound “is beginning to granulate and heal properly,” he wrote in the memo, published by Mr Trump on his Truth Social network.

There is still some bleeding requiring a bandage, but “given the broad and blunt nature of the wound itself, no sutures were required,” Mr Jackson wrote.

Mr Trump underwent a CT scan of his head as he was treated for the wound by doctors at the hospital in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“He will have further evaluations, including a comprehensive hearing exam, as needed,” said Mr Jackson, who retired from the navy as a rear-admiral last year.

He was first appointed to the White House medical unit under president George W. Bush, then became the president’s doctor in 2013, under Barack Obama.

During his campaign for congress, he positioned himself as a close Trump supporter, endorsing the narrative that Mr Obama had “weaponised” the government to spy on Mr Trump. He also broke ranks with public health officials on coronavirus, saying mask wearing should be a “personal choice.