Former President Trump arrives at the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
MILWAUKEE — Former President Trump was a highly visible presence at the Republican National Convention this week, but five days after an assassin’s bullet struck his ear at a campaign rally, little information has been released about the progress of his recovery or the effects on his health.
Trump wore a large white bandage over his right ear each night at the Republican National Convention this week, but the Trump campaign has not released a formal update on the former president’s condition and a spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Instead, the minimal updates the public got came from family members and close associates who have met with Trump since the shooting last Saturday.
Eric Trump told CBS News on Wednesday that his father’s injuries did not receive stitches but were “bad flesh wounds.”
Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the Republican National Committee, told the network Thursday morning that the former president is not taking any medication for the injury but will keep his ear bandaged “probably until it’s fully healed.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who served as the White House physician under both Presidents Obama and Trump, said he examined Trump the day after he was grazed by the bullet.
“The bullet scraped off a little bit of the top of the ear, which is an area that naturally bleeds a lot,” Jackson told The New York Times. “The bandage is a little thicker because it needs to be absorbent. You don’t want to be walking around with bloody gauze on your ear.”
Trump, who is scheduled to speak on the final night of the convention on Thursday, also commented on the shooting, posting to Truth Social hours after the incident that he was “shot above my right ear.”
“I knew immediately something was wrong as I heard a whoosh and a gunshot and felt the bullets penetrate my skin. I was bleeding profusely and realized what was going on,” he wrote.
In a conversation this week with independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that was made public Wednesday, Trump can be heard comparing a bullet to “the world’s biggest mosquito.”
The shooting galvanized Republicans, who praised Trump’s courage in standing up and raising his fist at the crowd immediately after the assassination attempt, even as he was surrounded by Secret Service agents.
Convention attendees occasionally chanted “Fight!” – a reference to a bloody Trump speech he gave to supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania – and some delegates wore makeshift paper bandages over their ears in tribute to Trump.
Trump has been largely quiet about his health since leaving the White House, and his reelection campaign has released little information about his condition. In November, they released a letter from Trump’s doctor saying he was in “excellent health” but provided few details about his most recent test results.
Trump is 78 and will be 82 at the end of his second term, but polls have consistently shown voters are far more concerned about the physical and mental health of his opponent, President Biden, who turns 82 in November.
