Washington — Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas, who served as a physician to former President Donald Trump in the White House, said Friday that the former president was struck in the right ear by a bullet when a shooter opened fire during his meeting in Pennsylvania.
Jackson wrote in a memo to “concerned citizens of the United States” shared on social media that he continues to monitor Trump’s health after the attempted murder in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
“The would-be assassin fired multiple rounds from a high-powered rifle at relatively close range, with one bullet striking the former president, and now Republican presidential nominee, in his right ear,” Jackson wrote.
He said he reviewed Trump’s medical records from Butler Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for a “gunshot wound to the right ear,” and agreed with the initial assessment and treatment by the hospital’s medical staff.
“There is absolutely no evidence that it was anything other than a bullet,” Jackson wrote, adding that Trump is “recovering rapidly” from the wound and is doing “extremely well.”
Jackson’s memo appears to have been prompted by comments FBI Director Chris Wray he said Wednesday during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, saying Trump’s ear had been grazed by shrapnel or a bullet.
“With regard to former President Trump, the question is whether it was a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” he said.
In a statement provided to CBS News on Friday, the FBI’s Bureau of Public Affairs said: “What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, either whole or in smaller pieces, fired from the decedent’s gun.”
Trump attacked Wray for his comments, writing on social media that the American people no longer have confidence in the FBI. He also claimed that Wray should resign for allegedly lying to Congress about President Biden’s health.
“There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a ‘bullet wound to the ear,’ and that’s what it was,” the former president wrote.
Trump tapped Wray to take charge of the FBI in 2017 after firing former director James Comey.
The FBI said in a statement Thursday that Wray has provided “extensive testimony before Congress” about the FBI’s investigation into the shooting, which left one participant dead and Trump and two attendees injured.
“Since the day of the attack, the FBI has been clear that the shooting was an attempted assassination of former President Trump, injuring him, killing a heroic father and wounding multiple other victims,” the FBI said.
According to the agency, a “shooting reconstruction team” is examining evidence from the scene of the attack, including bullet fragments.
Referring to Wray’s comments, Jackson wrote in his memo that Congress should correct the record of the hearing “as confirmed by both the hospital and myself.”
Jackson served in the White House Medical Unit during the George W. Bush administration. He was physician to the president under Presidents Barack Obama and Trump, who appointed Jackson as chief medical adviser and assistant to the president in January 2019.
Jackson was elected to Congress in 2020, representing Texas’s 13th congressional district.
In 2022, Jackson became demoted by the navy from rear admiral (bottom half) to captain after an investigation by the Pentagon’s internal watchdog found he engaged in inappropriate behavior while in the White House medical unit.
Released in March 2021, the Pentagon probe found Jackson “belittled, intimidated, and humiliated” subordinates and drank recklessly during presidential trips, when he was responsible for the medical care and treatment of U.S. officials.
Jackson retired from the Navy in 2019. Trump had selected him to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2018, but there were reports of misconduct, including allegations that he had drunk on the job and over prescribed medications, his nomination was thrown into disarray.
