Photos show Trump campaigning years before shooting | Fact check

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
·2 min read

The claim: Image shows Donald Trump after assassination attempt with no ear injury

A July 15 post on X, formerly Twitter, (direct link, archive link) shares a close-up photo of former President Donald Trump.

“This image of Trump was taken today,” the post reads. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with his ear, and it has zero damage, FROM A BULLET. Everything about Trump is a con or a grift.”

The post was reposted nearly 7,000 times in two days, and the image appeared in other posts making the same claim on X. Another image was used to make a similar claim in posts on Facebook and X.

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Fact check roundup: False claims about Trump rally shooting spread online

Our rating: False

Trump’s ear injury was well documented in the moment of the shooting and in his appearances at the Republican National Convention. The image in the post is from an appearance by Trump while campaigning for Ohio Sen. JD Vance in 2022.

Photos of Trump on stump for Vance misrepresented

Trump announced Vance would be his running mate on July 15, two days after a sniper’s assassination attempt left the former president with a wounded ear.

The social media claims that he was not wounded are demonstrably false. A slew of photographic and video evidence from the attack shows him bleeding after the shots were fired.

The image in the post is a cropped version of a September 2022 Reuters photo taken at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio. In the original photo, Trump is behind Vance, who is speaking at a lectern.

Some social media posts make a similar claim but use a different image of Trump from another campaign event. That image was first published Nov. 7, 2022, by Getty Images in Vandalia, Ohio.

Fact check: No, Image does not show Trump's suit jacket was pierced with a bullet

Trump appeared July 15 at the Republican National Convention with a bandage on his right ear, consistent with the wound he said he received in a Truth Social post on July 13.

USA TODAY could not reach the X users who shared the claim for comment.

Reuters, AFP and the Associated Press also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Photos show uninjured Trump campaigning for Vance in 2022 | Fact check

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