Details on Trump’s health after shooting trickle out from friends, family

MILWAUKEE — Former President Trump has maintained a highly visible presence at the GOP’s national convention this week, but little information has been released on his recovery or any lingering health effects five days after an assassin’s bullet struck him in the ear at a campaign rally.

Trump has worn a large white bandage on his right ear each night of this week’s Republican National Convention, but the Trump campaign has provided no formal update on the former president’s condition, and spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment.

Instead, the minimal updates the public has gotten have come from family and close allies who have seen Trump since last Saturday’s shooting.

Eric Trump, the former president’s son, told CBS News on Wednesday that his father did not have stitches for the injury, which he described as “a nice flesh wound.”

Lara Trump, Eric’s wife and co-chair of the Republican National Committee, told the network Thursday morning that her father-in-law is not taking any medication for the injury but that he will wear a bandage over his ear “until it’s probably fully healed up.”

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who served as the White House physician during the Obama and Trump administrations, has said he examined Trump the day after he was grazed by a bullet.

“The bullet took a little bit off the top of his ear in an area that, just by nature, bleeds like crazy,” Jackson told The New York Times. “The dressing’s bulked up a bit because you need a bit of absorbent. You don’t want to be walking around with bloody gauze on his ear.”

Trump, who is set to address the convention Thursday on its final night, has himself provided some commentary on the shooting. Hours after it took place, he posted on Truth Social that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.” 

“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening,” he wrote.

In a conversation this week with independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that leaked to the public Wednesday, Trump could be heard comparing the bullet to “the world’s largest mosquito.”

The shooting has galvanized Republicans, who have praised Trump’s courage in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt when he rose to his feet and pumped his fist to the crowd while surrounded by Secret Service agents.

Attendees at the convention have broken out into periodic chants of “fight!” — a reference to what Trump mouthed to supporters at his Pennsylvania rally as blood streaked across his face. Some delegates donned makeshift bandages made of paper over their own ears to pay tribute to Trump.

Trump has been relatively tight-lipped about his health since leaving the White House. His team has disclosed minimal information about his physical condition as he campaigns for another term. It released a letter from his personal physician last November that described the former president as having “excellent health,” but provided few specifics about his most recent exam.

Trump is 78 and would be 82 at the end of a prospective second term. But polling has consistently shown voters are far more concerned about the physical and mental acuity of his opponent, President Biden, who will turn 82 in November.