Trump's doctor reveals shocking new details about ex-president's bullet wound - and just how close he came to dying
A former physician to Donald Trump revealed it's an 'absolute miracle he wasn't killed' after examining his ear post-assassination attempt.
Ronny L Jackson, 57, met Trump, 78, in Bedminster, New Jersey following his near-death experience to 'personally check on him.'
'I am extremely thankful his life was spared,' Jackson wrote in a Saturday letter, uploaded to Truth Social by Trump. 'It was an absolute miracle he wasn't killed.'
The doctor said Trump sustained a two-centimeter - roughly one inch - gunshot wound during last week's attempted assassination
Jackson revealed the Republican nominee had to undergo a CT scan of his head in Pennsylvania after the bullet clipped his ear, and that his injury continues 'intermittent bleeding,' which requires him to keep his bandage on - which has since become a symbol of solidarity among his supporters.
The memo from former White House physician Ronny Jackson, now a conservative lawmaker from Texas, is one of the first detailed accounts of the injury Trump sustained when Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania one week ago, killing one bystander and wounding two others.
Ronny L Jackson met Trump, 78, in Bedminster, New Jersey following his near-death experience to 'personally check on him.' He said: 'I am extremely thankful his life was spared. 'It was an absolute miracle he wasn't killed'
Jackson revealed the Republican nominee had to undergo a CT scan of his head after the bullet clipped his ear, and that his injury continues 'intermittent bleeding,' which requires him to keep his bandage on - which has since become a symbol of solidarity among his supporters
'There was initially significant bleeding, followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear. The swelling has since resolved, and the wound is beginning to granulate and heal properly,' Jackson said in a letter.
He also said the former president will have to undergo additional exams, including a 'comprehensive hearing exam.'
The 45th President of the United States was initially treated at Butler Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania, which Jackson praised for their 'outstanding care' and 'excellent job of evaluating him and treating his wound.'
'In summary, Former President Trump is doing well, and he is recovering as expected from the gunshot wound sustained last Saturday afternoon,' Jackson said.
Jackson, who retired from the Navy as a rear admiral last year, was first appointed to the White House medical unit under former president George W. Bush, then became the president's doctor in 2013, under Barack Obama
The medical physician went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, with Trump and will 'remain by his side throughout the weekend to provide any medical assistance he needs.'
Jackson will return to Washington DC on Monday, before heading back to Amarillo, Texas, where he lives, by the end of the week.
Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump as he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last Saturday.
He was shot dead by Secret Service sharpshooters after his shots grazed Trump's ear, killed rally attendee Corey Comperatore, and wounded another.
Jackson, who retired from the Navy as a rear admiral last year, was first appointed to the White House medical unit under former president George W. Bush, then became the president's doctor in 2013, under Barack Obama.
But he gained national fame after effusively praising Trump's health and 'great genes' in 2018, declaring: 'I told the president that if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old.'
During his campaign for Congress, Jackson positioned himself as a close Trump supporter, endorsing the narrative that Obama had 'weaponized' the government to spy on Trump.
He also broke ranks with public health officials on the coronavirus, saying that mask-wearing should be a 'personal choice,' and he questioned Joe Biden's cognitive capacity to run for president.
Trump put out a statement on the shooting on his Truth Social page ...
'I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,' said the former president.
'I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.'
The Republican presidential candidate revealed he was not warned about his attacker by the Secret Service - despite agents receiving worrying reports from rally-goers before Trump even got on stage.
Trump said that 'nobody mentioned' Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old gunman, despite the fact that he was being monitored for 'an hour' before the shooting.
'Nobody mentioned it,' the former president said. 'Nobody said it was a problem.'
'[They] could've said, "Let's wait for 15, 20 minutes, 5 minutes." Nobody said…I think that was a mistake,' he added.
Trump, along with the rest of the United States, later questioned how Crooks could have possibly made it onto the roof to begin with.
'How did somebody get on that roof?' Trump questioned. 'And why wasn't he reported, because people saw he was on that roof.'
Trump revealed that security agents were alerted that someone was on the roof with a gun before he even walked out on stage - and did not stop him from doing so.
'When you have Trumpers screaming, the woman in the red shirt, 'There's a man on the roof,' and other people, 'There's a man on the roof and who's got a gun,'…that was quite a bit before I walked on the stage. And I would've thought someone would've done something about it,' Trump said.
Secret Service officials had refused to provide Trump with additional security during the two years prior to last weekend's assassination.
The ex-president's request for more agents and magnetometers at events he attended was denied.
Each request was rejected by senior officials.
Trump was receiving less protection than other former presidents and major party presidential candidates.
Secret Service officials refused to provide Donald Trump with additional security in the two years prior to last weekend's assassination attempt
The Secret Service's botched job has been described as 'an enormous security failure' and many are calling for the resignation of the agency's director, Kimberly Cheatle.
Crooks' attempt on Trump's life was enabled by multiple instances of negligence on behalf of the security agents.
Somehow, Crooks was able to fly a drone over the rally site the same day as the event.
Additionally, he was spotted and then watched by law enforcement at the Trump rally site - because they sensed something wasn't right - and yet they managed to lose sight of him before the carnage unfolded.
Routine checks would have eliminated all potential threats - which calls into question the standard of the Secret Service under the current administration.
The Secret Service's botched job has been described as 'an enormous security failure' and many are calling for the resignation of the agency's director, Kimberly Cheatle (pictured)
Furious US senators took it upon themselves to confront Cheatle as she herself hid behind her own security agents, after making a 'cover-your-a** call' to senators about the shooting.
Fury had erupted after Cheatle and her top aides briefed senators in a private conference call about the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump.
Senator Barrasso called the meeting a '100% cover-your-a** briefing.'
Cheatle was unable to explain how agents failed to stop Thomas Matthew Crooks from clambering onto a roof and shooting at Trump from less than 150 yards away – even though the gunman was spotted by law enforcement 20 minutes before the shots were fired.
'No one has taken responsibility. No one has been held responsible. Someone has died. The president was almost killed. The head of the Secret Service needs to go,' Barrasso said later.
Now as more fingers are pointed at Cheatle, new allegations have revealed the depth of dysfunction within the service, with Department of Homeland Security whistleblowers claiming the majority of Trump's security detail on Saturday were 'not even Secret Service' and were 'unfamiliar with standard protocols'.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley wrote to the DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Friday outlining those allegations and a litany of other claimed security flaws: 'Detection canines were not used to monitor entry and detect threats in the usual manner.
'Individuals without proper designations were able to gain access to backstage areas. Department personnel did not appropriately police the security buffer around the podium and were also not stationed at regular intervals around the event's security perimeter.'
The failings are a symptom of an 'agency in crisis' after decades of understaffing and corrupt promotion and hiring practices.
Cheatle, 53, was appointed director of the Secret Service by Biden in 2022, after heading up global security at PepsiCo.
Announcing her selection, President Joe Biden revealed that 'Kim' had 'served on my security detail when I was Vice President' and he and Jill Biden 'came to trust her judgment and counsel'.
While she was at PepsiCo, she was awarded a Presidential Rank Award for 'exceptional performance' by Joe Biden.
Cheatle had been personally tapped for the role as head of Secret Service by First Lady Jill Biden's top aide, Anthony Bernal, who is 'obsessed' with DEI.
'Cheatle had served on Jill Biden's second lady detail and Anthony pushed for her,' one source said. 'I heard at the time she was being considered for director that Anthony had pushed her forward as an option,' another added.
Cheatle has spoken openly about her goals of raising the number of the agency's female recruits to 30 percent of all new hires by the year 2030.
Cheatle said in an interview on ABC News days after the shooting that agents did not secure the roof from which the assassin fired because, 'That building in particular has a sloped roof, at its highest point... And so, there's a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn't want to put somebody up on a sloped roof.'
Critics, like former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker said that explanation was 'absurd.'
Cheatle (above, right) has spoken openly about her goals of raising the number of the agency's female recruits to 30 percent of all new hires by the year 2030.
Cheatle was promoted due to her close relationship with the Bidens.
The danger is that personal connection is 'not a great basis on which to select someone' for that job.
'The Secret Service have been hemorrhaging staff for a long time'.
'Many, many agents within the Secret Service thought that within the service the best people weren't being promoted, it's more about who you knew,' he said. 'It's an agency in crisis.'
Agents were accused of improperly intervening in the investigation into whether the President's son Hunter Biden lied on federal firearms forms to buy a revolver at a Delaware gun shop in 2018.
In June, Hunter was convicted on three felony charges related to the purchase.
But early on in that case, FBI documents revealed, that the gun store owner claimed that Secret Service agents showed up at his business and asked to remove the documents Hunter has signed.
The shop-owner refused and the agents allegedly left.
The government transparency group Judicial Watch has obtained hundreds of pages of internal communications between Secret Service officials about the alleged incident.
The documents revealed that agency officials discussed media reports of the incident.
One agent found it 'odd' that the agency would be involved in the investigation since the Biden Family was not receiving Secret Service protection at the time.
Another official responded: 'Maybe we were asked for a favor?'
'These new documents suggest that one can't take at face value the Secret Service's denial that it wasn't involved in the Hunter Biden gun cover-up,' Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told DailyMail.com at the time.
Cheatle herself was then dragged into the debacle surrounding Hunter's trials in September 2023, when the House Oversight Committee ordered her to make her employees available for interview after whistleblowers alleged Secret Service agents tipped off the Bidens about an IRS investigation into Hunter.
Additionally, IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley and FBI supervisory special agent Joe Gordon alleged that they were told by FBI brass to wait for Secret Service permission before they could go to Hunter's home to interview him.
According to Shapley and Gordon that Secret Service call never came.
Following Trump's near-death, Leavitt says there is no way Cheatle will be able to stay in her post.
'The difference between life and death in Saturday's attempted assassination of former President Trump was centimeters and a slight wind,' he said on X.
And as fury mounts, he says it is not a question of if Cheatle resigns, but when.
No comments:
Post a Comment