“I examined and treated” Trump’s ear injury daily, wrote Jackson, a former White House physician who has remained close to Trump since leaving the White House and later running for and winning election to Congress.
Jackson Said He allowed his Florida medical license to lapse because he didn’t have time to see patients, The New York Times reported in 2022. However, his license will remain under “military service member” status until early 2025, with the Florida Department of Health stating that “physicians licensed to serve in the United States military are only permitted to practice medicine at military facilities.”
Jackson said Trump suffered a two-centimetre wound from a bullet that reached the cartilage surface of his ear. Trump’s wound did not require stitches but “is still bleeding intermittently and will require bandaging,” Jackson said.
The bandage, a white square of gauze, remained visible over 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. Most recently, at a campaign rally in Michigan on Saturday, Trump wore a standard flesh-colored bandage.
Jackson also said the trauma initially caused bleeding and swelling, but that the swelling has since subsided and the wound is beginning to “heal properly.”
The memo, written on Jackson’s U.S. Congressional letterhead and shared online by Trump on Truth Social, also provides new details about the medical treatment Jackson allegedly received at Butler Memorial Hospital in Butler, Pennsylvania, shortly after the assassination attempt.
In addition to treating his wounds, medical staff at the hospital “provided a thorough evaluation of additional injuries, including a CT scan,” Jackson wrote. [scan] of his head.”
The hospital where Trump was treated declined to comment on the contents of the letter.
“Privacy laws and policies prevent us from commenting on the care provided,” said Tom Chakurda, chief communications and marketing officer for Independence Health Systems, which operates Butler Memorial.
In his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination in Milwaukee on Thursday night, Trump dramatically recounted how he narrowly escaped an assassin’s bullet at a rally in Pennsylvania, saying he would only talk about what happened once because it was “too painful to talk about.”
As he turned his head to the right to look at a chart on display at the rally, he recalled, “I started to turn to the right and tried to turn further, but fortunately I didn’t. Then I heard a loud whoosh and felt something hit me hard on my right ear.”
“I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? That must be a bullet,’ and I put my right hand to my ear and put it down, and my hand was covered in blood,” he continued. “I immediately realised this was very serious and that I was under attack.”
In the memo, Jackson said Trump “will undergo further evaluation, including a comprehensive hearing evaluation, if necessary.”
“He will continue to be examined by his primary care physician, as recommended by the initial physician he examined,” Jackson continued, adding that he would be at the former president’s side “throughout the weekend” and “provide any medical assistance he needs.”
A spokesman for Jackson’s congressional office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.
Jackson, who has staunchly supported Trump in Congress, said after last Saturday’s rally that his family, including a nephew, was injured at the rally.
Jackson, who worked in the White House medical department under three presidents, was said in a Defense Department inspector general report to have provided prescription drugs without proper documentation, a habit that earned him the nickname “Candyman.” Jackson denies the allegations in the report and says they were politically motivated.
He has also come under fire for his glowing praise of Trump’s health in 2018, saying the president has “incredibly good genes.”
The Washington Post confirmed earlier this year that the Navy demoted Jackson in July 2022 after an inspector general report confirmed allegations about Jackson’s inappropriate behavior as White House physician, including inappropriate sexual comments and angry outbursts.
Hannah Knowles contributed to this report.
