Bullet that hit Trump's ear left 2cm wound, says ex-White House doctor

Donald Trump's former physician said on Saturday that the Republican presidential candidate sustained a two-centimetre gunshot wound during last week's attempted assassination, but that his ear is starting to heal.

The memo from former White House physician Ronny Jackson, now a hardline right-wing lawmaker from Texas, is one of the first detailed accounts of the injury Trump sustained when a young gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania one week ago, killing one bystander and wounding two others.

"The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear," wrote Jackson, who said he flew to see Trump in New Jersey late on the evening of the rally, and had been treating his ear ever since.

"The bullet track produced a 2cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear. There was initially significant bleeding, following by a marked swelling of the entire upper ear," he continued.

The swelling has since gone down, and the wound "is beginning to granulate and heal properly", he wrote in the memo, published by Trump on his Truth Social network.

There is still some bleeding requiring a bandage, but "given the broad and blunt nature of the wound itself, no sutures were required", Jackson wrote.

Trump also underwent a CT scan of his head as he was treated for the wound by doctors at the hospital in Butler, Pennsylvania, he said.

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.