The bullet that struck ex-President Donald Trump's ear missed his head by "less than a quarter of an inch," said his former White House physician.
Trump's former White House doctor Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson said he has been treating Trump daily since the deadly July 13 sniper attack at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and called it an "absolute miracle he wasn't killed."
In the first details provided publicly by anyone with medical training, Jackson said Trump, 78, was "doing well" after the bullet came "less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear."
"The bullet track produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down the cartilaginous surface of the ear," he wrote in a memo released by Trump's campaign. "There was initially significant bleeding, followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear."
Trump didn't need any stitches because the wound was "broad and blunt," Jackson said, although there's "still intermittent bleeding requiring a dressing to be in place."
But the swelling has gone down and the wound is beginning to heal properly, Jackson said.
"He will have further evaluations, including a comprehensive hearing exam, as needed," Jackson wrote.
Questions have been raised about why Trump has not allowed the hospital where he was treatd to issue a statement or report about his injuries, which would be typical in such a case.
"It's an understatement to say that it's bizarre that a presidential candidate has sustained an injury from an attempted assassination and no medical report is issued to describe his evaluation and the extent of his injury," Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at The George Washington University, noted on X.
In September, the Dallas Morning News reported that Jackson's Virginia medical license had expired more than three years earlier and that his Florida medical license hadn't been valid since he left the Navy in 2019.
On Saturday, the Florida Department of Health website showed Jackson's license was conditioned on serving in the military and only authorized him to practice in a military facillity.
Jackson's board certification in emergency medicine is valid through the end of next year but he needs a license to practice medicine, the Dallas Morning News said.
In March, news reports revealed that the Navy quietly demoted Jackson from rear admiral to captain in 2022 over "inappopriate conduct" while serving in the White House, including drinking alcohol and making sexual comments to subordinates.
Jackson accused Democrats of using the results of that investigation to "repeat and rehash untrue attacks on my integrity" because he had "refused to turn my back on President Trump."
A spectator at the Trump campaign rally, Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed while shielding his family and two other Trump supporters were critically wounded during the attempted assassination at the Butler Farm Show grounds.
The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was killed by the Secret Service and multiple investigations are underway to determine how he was able to carry out the attack from a rooftop about 150 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking.
