Was Trump actually shot in the ear?
Executive summary
Yes — law enforcement and multiple contemporaneous reports conclude that Donald Trump was struck in the upper right ear during the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally, an injury he and medical personnel described publicly and that the FBI later confirmed [1] [2]. Confusion and competing interpretations—ranging from FBI director comments about possible shrapnel to online hoaxes claiming his ear was removed or “regrew”—have kept debate alive, but primary sources support that a bullet or bullet fragment grazed his ear [3] [4].
1. What happened at the rally and the immediate accounts
Video and eyewitness accounts show an assailant on a rooftop firing multiple rounds toward the stage during Trump’s July 13 speech; Trump flinched, clutched his ear and was ushered offstage as agents swarmed him, and photographs and footage showed blood near his right ear and him wearing a bandage days later at the convention [2] [5] [6]. The shooter, identified as 20‑year‑old Thomas Crooks, fired eight rounds from an AR‑15–style rifle, and a Secret Service counter‑sniper engaged and fatally shot the attacker shortly after the firing began, while a nearby audience member was killed and others wounded, according to reporting at the time [2] [5].
2. Medical descriptions and public statements by Trump and his team
In the immediate aftermath, Trump posted that he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear” and described hearing a whizzing noise and feeling the bullet tear through skin, and campaign statements said he received on‑site and hospital care and was released the same day [3] [2]. Photographs from the Republican National Convention days later showed him wearing a prominent gauze bandage over his right ear, and subsequent commentary by medical observers described a healed but altered outer ear consistent with a grazing wound [2] [7].
3. Law enforcement confirmation and lingering official ambiguity
After initial confusion and some ambiguous testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray suggesting the wound might have been caused by shrapnel, the FBI issued a statement clarifying that Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet during the July 13 attack, a move the AP characterized as the most definitive law enforcement account after nearly two weeks of conflicting public commentary [1] [3]. Reporting emphasized that the FBI’s statement was intended to resolve public uncertainty, though questions about precise wound mechanics—full projectile vs. fragment, angle and exact tissue damage—remain in public narratives because full medical records were not released by the campaign [1] [3].
4. Misinformation, hoaxes and the “regrowing ear” story
False posts claiming Trump’s ear was entirely taken off and then “regrew” the next day were debunked by fact‑checkers, who found no such authentic posts on his accounts and characterized the screenshots as fabricated; Snopes explicitly concluded the viral screenshot was not real [4]. Broader conspiracy themes—ranging from claims the shooting was staged to alternate readings of photographic close‑ups—have circulated widely on social media and in partisan outlets despite multiple mainstream sources documenting the wound and the FBI’s confirmation [6] [8].
5. Independent medical reading and what the visible evidence shows
A year‑later assessment by a plastic surgeon noted a slight asymmetry and edge distortion of the outer ear consistent with tissue loss, repair or repositioning after a grazing injury, and journalists and historians have repeatedly pointed to the visible bandage, photos of blood, and eyewitness testimony as corroborating the physical injury narrative [7] [6]. At the same time, reporting has frequently highlighted that the campaign did not release full medical records, which keeps the precise medical mechanics open to expert debate even as the core fact—an ear was grazed by gunfire—remains supported by law enforcement and multiple independent accounts [3] [7].
6. Why the dispute persists and the stakes of the truth
The episode sits at the intersection of political violence, media spectacle and partisan misinformation: confirming a bullet strike matters for public record and security accountability (the incident was called the Secret Service’s most significant security failure since Reagan’s shooting), while ambiguity invites conspiracy and erodes trust—an outcome amplified by competing statements from officials, selective release of details, and viral falsehoods that benefit both political narratives and attention economies [2] [1] [6]. Based on contemporaneous reporting, law enforcement confirmation and medical commentary, the conclusion supported by primary sources is that Trump was indeed grazed in the upper right ear by gunfire on July 13, 2024 [1] [2] [7].