Donald Trump has appeared without a bandage on his ear for the first time since he was shot in an assassination attempt – as his doctor released an update on his recovery and responded to doubts he was hit by a bullet.
The shocking new images show that the 45th president’s right ear seems to have made a remarkably quick recovery in less than two weeks since a gunman opened fire on him.
Would-be assassin Thomas Crooks, 20, fired eight rounds from his AR-15 at the rally stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, including one that ripped through the president’s ear.
Blood covered his face as he was frantically pulled off the stage by Secret Service in what was a huge security failure by the agency meant to protect him.
The snaps were taken as the former president welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida for a meeting.
The pair discussed the war in Gaza, less than 24 hours Netanyahu held talks with Kamala Harris at the White House and was ‘irked’ by her comments on a ceasefire deal.
During the meeting at Mar-a-Lago meeting Netanyahu and Trump spoke about the former president’s Middle East peace deal, the Abraham Accords, Iran’s nuclear program and combatting anti-Semitism in the U.S.
The ear reveal comes the same day that Trump’s doctor, Dr. Ronny Jackson, gave a critical update on the president’s recovery.
Dr. Ronny Jackson, who is also a Republican Congressman from Texas, released a letter on Friday saying there was ‘absolutely no evidence’ he was hit by ‘anything other than a bullet.’
‘I want to reassure the American people and the rest of the world, that President Trump is doing extremely well,’ Trump’s former White House chief doctor added.
Jackson’s reassurance that the 45th president was hit by a slug rather than glass or shrapnel is a direct rebuke against FBI Director Christopher Wray’s suggestion earlier this week that the agency is still determining what bloodied Trump’s right ear.
Wray sparked a firestorm on Wednesday when he testified to lawmakers on Capitol Hill that there are still ‘some question’ about whether the former president was struck with a bullet or shrapnel.
‘It is clear to everyone that President Trump survived an assassination attempt by millimeters, as the attempted assassin’s bullet ripped the upper part of his ear,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote to Wray in a letter sent Friday.
