Jackson wrote that he had been examining and treating Trump’s ear injury daily. Jackson is a former White House physician who has remained a close political ally of Trump since he left the White House and successfully ran for Congress.
Jackson said Trump suffered a 2-centimeter-wide wound “that extended across the cartilaginous surface of the ear.” No stitches were required for Trump’s wound, Jackson said, but “there is still intermittent bleeding that requires a bandage to be applied.”
The bandage, a white gauze square, was visible on the upper third of Trump’s ear throughout the convention. It also became a symbol for Trump supporters who wore makeshift bandages over their right ears at the convention in solidarity with the former president.
Jackson also noted that the trauma initially caused bleeding and swelling, but that the swelling had since subsided and the wound was beginning to “heal properly.”
The memo, shared by Trump online on Truth Social, also provides new details about the medical care Trump received at Butler Memorial Hospital in Butler, Pennsylvania, immediately after the assassination attempt.
In addition to treating his injury, Jackson wrote, hospital medical staff “conducted a thorough assessment of additional injuries, including a CT scan of his head.”
In a speech in Milwaukee Thursday night to accept the Republican presidential nomination, Trump dramatically recounted the experience of narrowly missing a would-be assassin’s bullet at the Pennsylvania rally, saying he would describe what happened only once because it was “too painful to recount.”
As he turned his head to the right to see a map displayed at the rally, he recalled: “I started to turn to my right and was about to make another turn – which I was lucky not to do – when I heard a loud whistling sound and felt something hit me, very hard, on my right ear.”
“I thought, ‘Wow, what is this? It can only be a bullet,’ and I put my right hand to my ear, I put it down and my hand was covered in blood,” he continued. “I knew immediately that this was very serious, that we were under attack.”
Jackson said in the memo that Trump “will undergo further evaluations, including a comprehensive hearing exam, if necessary.”
“He will follow up with his primary care physician as directed by the physicians who initially evaluated him,” Jackson continued, adding that he will be by the former president’s side “throughout the weekend to provide any medical assistance he requires.”
Jackson, who served as White House physician to Trump and former President Barack Obama, gained attention for his glowing praise of Trump’s health in 2018, when he said Trump had “incredibly good genes.”
The Washington Post confirmed earlier this year that the Navy demoted Jackson in July 2022 after a damaging report from the Pentagon’s inspector general that allegations based on his inappropriate behavior as White House physician.
In Congress, Jackson has been staunchly pro-Trump and demanded that President Biden take a drug test before his CNN debate with Trump in June.
Hannah Knowles contributed to this report.
