Donald Trump did not claim that a bullet took his 'entire ear off'

What is the claim?

The recent assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump has given rise to several conspiracy theories and narratives on social media. 

An image, purportedly a screenshot of an alleged X (formerly Twitter) post by Trump, is viral on social media, claiming that the Republican nominee said the bullet fired by the gunman at the Butler rally clipped off his entire ear and that it was growing back.

Social media users shared the images with captions like, "Trump said it took his ear off and he regrew it." Archives of the posts are here, here, here, and here.

Screenshot of viral social media posts. (Source: Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the image is fake and appears to have been intended as satire. It is not a genuine claim made by Trump.

What are the facts?

Searching through Trump's official X account (archived here), we found no such post from the Republican presidential candidate nominee. Trump's last post on X dates back to August 25, 2023, when the former president returned to the social media platform two years after being banned following the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress by some of his supporters.

We further checked his Facebook, Instagram, and Truth Social accounts (archived here, here, and here) and found no such posts.

Further, we found no evidence of such claims made by Trump or any of the members of his campaign at any other point.

What did Trump and his campaign say after the attempted assassination?

After the assassination attempt, Trump wrote on Truth Social (archived here), "I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. 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."

Screenshot of the post by Trump. (Source: Truth Social/Screenshot)

Further, on July 20, 2024, United States Representative and Trump's White House physician Ronny Jackson released a letter  (archived here) providing a detailed update on Trump's health following the attack.

Jackson wrote in the memo that Trump sustained a gunshot wound to the right ear that came "less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head and struck the top of his right ear."

"The swelling has since resolved, and the wound is beginning to granulate and heal properly," he added.

The origin of the image

We found an account called "Agent Self" on X that claimed they had created the viral image. 

We found that they had posted (archived here) the viral image on July 21, 2024. Subsequently, we noted that they replied (archived here) to a user saying, "I made it. It's not AI: I literally typed it out," and shared a video showing how they had made it. The account also replied to several other social media users who commented on the post, claiming to be the creator.

Further, in another post the same day (archived here), the account claimed that the image was intended to be satire. They wrote, "I shouldn't have to say this is satire. That's the entire f***ing problem. From the 2000+ comments and quotes, most think it's real or confused about the authenticity. Let that sink in."

Screenshot of the post by the X user. (Source: X/Screenshot)

The verdict

A post claiming to be a statement by Trump appears to have been created by an X user as a satirical post. Users on social media have shared it as a genuine statement by Trump on his ear injury.