By: Christian Haag
July 22 2024
This video does not show a bullet piercing a hole through Donald Trump's ear
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Screenshot of the two viral videos on X (Source: X/Screenshot/Edited by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict False
The video has been digitally manipulated to add a hole appearing in Trump's ear and shows the wrong side of his head.
Context
After the assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump on July 14, a video claiming to show a bullet piercing Trump's ear has gone viral on X (formerly Twitter). One such post (archived here) has received over 11 million views.
However, the video is false and does not show a bullet piercing Donald Trump's ear. It has been digitally manipulated and shows the wrong side of his head.
In fact
Several elements prove that the viral video is false. The video has been mirrored to show Trump being hit by the bullet on the left side of his head, whereas in reality he was hit on his right side. In unedited footage of the event, the U.S. flag on his MAGA cap is on the left side, with 45-47 on the right. In the viral video, the American flag is on his right and reversed. Images published by Reuters also evidently show which side Trump was struck.
In the viral video, two women are also seen ducking to the left, but in the actual footage, they duck to the right.
Left: A screenshot of the original unedited footage of the incident. Right: The edited viral footage. The flag on Trump's cap, seen on his left in the real footage, is on his right and reversed, indicating that the image has been edited. (Source: ABS News/X/Screenshot/Composite by Logically Facts)
At the 28-second timestamp, a hole appears in Trump's ear, but there is no blood in the footage. In actual footage, blood was pouring down from his ear.
Left: Actual footage from the incident, in which blood is clearly visible from the gunshot wound. Right: The edited footage, in which the hole simply appears. (Source: Twitter/Screenshot/ Reuters/Composite by Logically Facts)
BBC Verify's Shayan Sardarizadeh also fact-checked the claim and reached the same conclusion.
The verdict
The video has been mirrored and shows the wrong side of Trump's ear; it has also been digitally manipulated to add a hole which appears spontaneously with no blood. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.
Follow Logically Facts' coverage and fact-checking of the U.S. Election 2024 here.
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