‘Quarter of an inch’: Donald Trump’s ex-physician reveals how close he was to death

Republican nominee Donald Trump’s former physician revealed on Saturday that the former US president’s gunshot wound missed his head by a quarter of an inch.

Trump faced an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania, where he was wounded on the upper part of his right ear. Two other people were wounded and one attendee died at the event.

In the first detailed account of the injury, former White House physician and current Texas lawmaker, Ronny Jackson, wrote in a memo that, “The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear.”

Jackson also stated that he flew to New Jersey after the rally and has been in charge of treating Trump’s wound ever since.

The Texas lawmaker also added that the current wound was about 2 centimetres wide and had damaged the cartilage as well. Due to the bleeding, it had experienced swelling but the wound was starting to heal.

Jackson also clarified that the bandage around Trump’s ear was to stop small amounts of bleeding and no stitches had been required so the wound was naturally healing.

Trump had undergone a CT scan after the wound as well, and according to Jackson, would soon be tested for hearing as well.

Ronny Jackson, a former Navy rear admiral, was first appointed to the White House medical unit under President George W Bush and became the president’s doctor under Barack Obama in 2013.

In 2018, he praised Trump’s “great genes” and stated that the Republican nominee could live up to 200 years. Soon after he became a close campaign aide and has taken controversial stances such as questioning Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities and calling for masks during COVID-19 to not be compulsory.