Anthony Fauci dismissed the gunshot wound Donald Trump sustained 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 gunshot wound on his ear throughout the Republican National Convention this week.
‘I don’t think there is much more to it,’ Fauci, 83, said of Trump’s wounds while talking to CNN host Wolf Blitzer on Friday. ‘It was a bullet shot 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 chief medical advisor to the president, added that, according to the physician who examined Trump, there was no other further damage.
Anthony Fauci (pictured) dismissed a gunshot wound that Donald Trump sustained during Saturday’s attempted assassination: ‘he’s in the clear,’ the doctor told CNN viewers
‘I think he’s in the clear… as far as I can see,’ Fauci said – although he acknowledged that it’s dangerous to make diagnoses from a distance.
However, based on Trump’s physicians’ reports and the way in which the former president is acting now, Fauci says it seems 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 long-term health effects of the gunshot could be detrimental to the former president.
CNN’s chief medical correspondent Doctor Sanjay Gupta asked for a ‘public assessment’ of the former president in an op-ed for CNN on Friday.
He added: ‘…gunshot blasts near the head can cause injuries that aren’t 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 insight’ into Trump’s condition after he sustained the injury on Saturday.
‘The good news is that most physical symptoms of an injury would probably have revealed themselves over the past few days,’ Gupta said.
‘At this point, however, the Trump campaign hasn’t yet shared whether a full workup was done at the time or if there has been any follow-up since.’
According to Simon McCarthy-Jones, professor of clinical psychology at Trinity College Dublin, Trump’s minor injury could disguise far greater mental harm caused by being shot.
‘Such experiences can shatter people’s assumptions that they are living in a safe, understandable and controllable world, leaving them feeling unworthy, unsafe and unsure,’ said Professor McCarthy-Jones.
Jones said the potential impact on Trump’s mind cannot be ignored as he stands to become US President in November.
Tens of thousands of Americans suffer non-fatal gunshot injuries each year and studies have shown the trauma can cause long-lasting damage, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe depression.
Pictured: CNN’s chief medical correspondent Doctor Sanjay Gupta
‘Such experiences can shatter people’s assumptions that they are living in a safe, understandable and controllable world, leaving them feeling unworthy, unsafe and unsure,’ said Professor McCarthy-Jones.
‘People may re-experience the event through flashbacks or nightmares. They may also have palpitations, sweating or breathlessness when reminded of the event.’
He told The Conversation that sufferers of PTSD may try to avoid reminders of the event, lose interest in activities and feel numb, irritable and jumpy.
They may be constantly watching out for threats, have difficulty concentrating, have angry outbursts and experience overwhelming emotions, he added.
