after a week After Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the former president's campaign has issued its first public update on his health.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who served as Trump's White House physician, wrote in a letter that the would-be assassin's bullet came “less than a quarter inch from entering his head, striking the top of his right ear,” noting that it “created a 2-centimeter-wide wound extending to the cartilaginous surface of the ear.”
“There was severe bleeding initially, followed by significant swelling of the entire upper ear,” he continued. “The swelling has since gone down, and the wound has begun to granulate and heal properly. Given the highly vascular nature of the ear, there is still intermittent bleeding that requires a bandage to be held in place. Given the wide, blunt nature of the wound, no stitches were required.”
Trump wore a bandage over his ear throughout the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week. Some convention attendees wore their own in solidarity with the former president. At least one vendor sold earbuds with an American flag logo.
In his speech at the convention, Trump recounted how he felt the shooting, saying: “I heard a loud whistle and I felt something hit me very hard in my right ear. I said to myself, ‘Oh my God, what is that, it must be a bullet,’ and I moved my right hand to my ear and dropped it. My hand was covered in blood. Just blood everywhere.”
Jackson concluded his message by saying that Trump is “well and recovering as expected from the gunshot wound he sustained last Saturday afternoon,” adding: “It is an absolute miracle that he was not killed.”
The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, reportedly used an AR-15-style rifle. One rally participant was killed in the shooting, and two others were seriously injured.
