What contemporaneous agency photographs exist showing Trump's ear bandaged after the July 2024 shooting?
Executive summary
Contemporaneous wire‑agency photography documenting Donald Trump wearing a bandage over his right ear exists from multiple major outlets at his first public appearances after the July 13, 2024 shooting; news agencies including Reuters, the Associated Press and AFP published images at the Republican National Convention showing a large white dressing over his right ear [1] [2] [3]. Those same agencies and others also carried immediate‑aftermath photos showing blood on his right ear taken at the scene two days earlier [4] [1].
1. Agency images at the Republican National Convention: formal documentation of a bandaged right ear
Photographers working for leading wire services captured Trump arriving and appearing at the RNC in Milwaukee with a prominent, thick white bandage covering his right ear; Reuters published photos from the convention showing the right‑ear dressing and used those images in its coverage and fact checks [1], the Associated Press’ photo archive and AFP/Getty also carried convention shots of the bandage [2] [3], and outlets from BBC to ABC ran agency images that likewise portray a right‑ear dressing on his July 15 RNC appearance [5] [6].
2. Immediate‑aftermath agency photos: blood and a visibly injured right ear
Photographers on scene at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally captured contemporaneous images of Trump with blood on and around his right ear as agents escorted him offstage; the Associated Press photojournalist Evan Vucci’s pictures of Trump pumping his fist with blood visible on his right ear were widely syndicated and are cited in agency and encyclopedic accounts [4], and Reuters’ reporting likewise references agency photos showing bloodied right‑ear injuries taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting [1].
3. How altered or miscaptioned images muddied the visual record
False or manipulated content circulated quickly—most notably a vertically flipped and reversed RNC clip that made the bandage appear on the left ear and fueled social claims that the episode was staged; Reuters analyzed that altered video and showed the authentic stream and agency photos prove the bandage was on the right ear [1]. Separately, older stock photographs without an ear injury were reused or miscaptioned online to argue no wound existed; Reuters and Deutsche Welle identified at least one widely shared file photo from 2022 being presented as post‑shooting evidence, which fact‑checks flagged as miscaptioned [7] [8].
4. Later agency photos showing the bandage removed and the limits of interpreting healing
Agency photography after the convention documented shifting bandage choices and later bandage‑free appearances: Reuters and PBS reported and published images showing Trump wearing a flesh‑colored bandage at a July 20 rally, and by July 26 some AP/Reuters images from events including a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu showed him without a visible bandage, a change Trump himself later referenced when saying he had removed the last bandage [9] [10] [11]. Those later, bandage‑free images do not negate contemporaneous agency photos of the bandaged right ear immediately after the shooting, but they do show the dressing was not permanent [9] [11].
5. Conclusion and reporting limits: what is documented and what remains outside the provided record
Contemporaneous agency photography clearly documents a bandage over Donald Trump’s right ear at his July 15 RNC appearance and blood on his right ear at the scene photographs taken immediately after the July 13 shooting, with Reuters, AP, AFP and Getty among the sources cited by major outlets and fact‑checkers [1] [4] [2] [3]; manipulated clips and repurposed older photos circulated as counterclaims and have been debunked by the same agencies [1] [7]. This review relies on the provided reporting; it does not attempt to catalogue every single agency photo file by filename or timestamp beyond those outlets’ published images, and it cannot adjudicate medical detail beyond what those agencies and campaign statements reported [9] [4].