CNN panelist seriously suggests Trump was never shot in ear

Touré, the host of the “Truth Talks” podcast, floated the idea on Thursday that President Donald Trump was never shot in the ear during the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania.

A bullet grazed the tip of Trump’s upper right ear after would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots into the crowd at the campaign rally, prompting the then-Republican nominee to wear a bandage over the wound. Touré suggested on “CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip” that Trump was only “supposedly” shot in the ear because the American public never got any information on the injury from his doctors.

“[Trump] supposedly got shot in the ear,” Touré said. “We never heard from his doctors about that. When did we hear from his doctors? … We would always hear from his doctors when he got shot.”

CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings said that Trump was clearly shot in the ear due to the bandage and the blood on his face at the time of the shooting.

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“Did he get shot or not? You’re saying you think he didn’t get shot?” Jennings asked. “I think it’s an important question. Are there still people who are truthers on this?”

“I wasn’t there, I don’t know! I don’t know. I’d like to hear from his doctor,” Touré answered.

Former FBI Director Christopher Wray testified during a July 24, 2024, congressional committee hearing that there was “some question” on whether Trump got hit by “a bullet or a shrapnel.” Republican Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, a former physician with direct knowledge of Trump’s injury, stated in a July 26, 2024, statement there is “absolutely no evidence” anything other than a bullet wounded Trump’s ear.

“During the Congressional Hearing two days ago, FBI Director Christopher Wray suggested that it could be a bullet, shrapnel, or glass,” Jackson wrote at the time. “There is absolutely no evidence that it was anything other than a bullet. Congress should correct the record as confirmed by both the hospital and myself. Director Wray is wrong and inappropriate to suggest anything else.”

A photograph taken by The New York Times’ Doug Mills showed a bullet flying directly near Trump’s head just moments before he began bleeding.

Several liberal media figures pushed the idea that Trump was not shot, including former MSNBC anchor Joy Reid, who suggested on July 17, 2024, social media platform Threads that it may have been glass that caused his ear to bleed. Without evidence, MSNBC’s Ari Melber alleged that the bandage was a “political quest” to gain sympathy and political clout.