Anthony Fauci has dismissed the gunshot wound Donald Trump suffered during Saturday’s assassination attempt, telling CNN viewers: “He’s in the clear.”
Fauci made the comments after the former president, 78, wore a large white bandage over the bullet wound in his ear during the Republican National Convention this week.
“I don’t think there’s much more to it,” Fauci, 83, said of Trump’s injuries while speaking to CNN host Wolf Blitzer on Friday. “It was a gunshot that grazed his ear.”
Trump was nearly killed last week when gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, but there has been no formal update on his condition.
Fauci, who served as the president’s chief medical adviser, added that according to the doctor who examined Trump, there was no other additional harm.
Anthony Fauci (pictured) dismissed the gunshot wound Donald Trump suffered during Saturday’s assassination attempt: “He’s clear,” the doctor told CNN viewers
“I think he’s out of the woods … as far as I can see,” Fauci said, although he acknowledged that it is dangerous to make diagnoses from a distance.
However, based on Trump’s medical records and the way the former president is acting now, Fauci says it appears to have been a superficial wound to the ear and nothing more.
While Fauci believes Trump’s wound is harmless… others in the medical field have warned that the long-term health effects of the shot could be detrimental to the former president.
CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta called for a “public reckoning” with the former president in an op-ed for CNN on Friday.
He added: “…shots near the head can cause injuries that are not immediately noticeable, such as bleeding in or on the brain, damage to the inner ear or even psychological trauma.”
The doctor argued that the public has “very little information” about Trump’s condition after he suffered the injury on Saturday.
“The good news is that most of the physical symptoms of an injury would likely have revealed themselves in the last few days,” Gupta said.
‘At this time, however, the Trump campaign has not yet shared whether a full analysis was conducted at the time or whether there has been any follow-up since then.’
According to Simon McCarthy-Jones, a professor of clinical psychology at Trinity College Dublin, Trump’s minor injury could mask much greater mental damage caused by the shooting.
“These experiences can shatter people’s sense of living in a safe, understandable and controllable world, leaving them feeling unworthy, unsafe and insecure,” Professor McCarthy-Jones said.
Jones said the potential impact on the mind of Trump, who is set to become US president in November, cannot be ignored.
Tens of thousands of Americans suffer nonfatal gunshot wounds each year, and studies have shown that the trauma can cause lasting damage, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression.
Pictured: CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta
“These experiences can shatter people’s sense of living in a safe, understandable and controllable world, leaving them feeling unworthy, unsafe and insecure,” Professor McCarthy-Jones said.
“People may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares. They may also experience palpitations, sweating, or shortness of breath when recalling the event.”
He said The conversation that those with PTSD may try to avoid reminders of the event, lose interest in activities, and feel numb, irritable, and nervous.
They may be constantly on the lookout for threats, have difficulty concentrating, have angry outbursts and experience overwhelming emotions, she added.
