UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Mystery Over Trump’s Diagnosis and Treatment After Assassination Attempt

Trump was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital close to where the attack happened, but no details have been officially released.

Donald Trump arrives in Milwaukee enveloped in the glow of surviving an assassination attempt. He's also trailed by a litany of questions over his condition as he prepares on Monday to name his running mate, the person who would be a heartbeat away from the presidency should he prevail in November.

Neither the Trump campaign nor the hospital where he was treated on Saturday in Butler, Pa., have released any information on the former president's treatment, diagnosis or condition.

A spokesman for Butler Memorial Hospital, Tom Chakurda, told the Daily Beast Monday, “We’re deferring any comment to the Trump team.” The Trump campaign declined to respond to questions about Trump’s condition and treatment.

Trump has told well wishers and conservative media that he cannot believe he’s alive. He indicated in an interview with Byron York of the Washington Examiner that he was grazed by a bullet, which could have been a fatal blow to the skull had the former president not turned his head.

“The most incredible thing was that I happened to not only turn but to turn at the exact right time and in just the right amount,” Trump told York aboard his Boeing 757 en route to Milwaukee for the start of the Republican National Convention. “If I only half-turn, it hits the back of the brain. The other way goes right through [the skull]. And because the sign was high, I’m looking up. The chances of my making a perfect turn are probably one-tenth of 1%, so I’m not supposed to be here.”

On stage at his rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump's right ear filled with blood after 20-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks opened fire in the direction of the president, killing a Trump supporter in the crowd and seriously wounding two others. It was the first assassination attempt on a president, current or former, since 1981.

ABC News reported that Trump underwent a precautionary CT scan. It came back clear, according to the network, which cited anonymous sources.

The fact that the hospital, so far, is not providing information publicly suggests that the medical facility, which is part of Independence Health Systems in Pennsylvania, is protecting consent and confidentiality agreements with Trump, making it up to him to waive it if he wanted to.

On Saturday evening, after the failed attempt on his life, Trump was rushed to Butler Memorial. At 6:42 p.m. that evening, Trump's security detail described Trump as “fine.”

But so far, the Trump camp has not disclosed what kinds of tests the former president underwent, how he was treated and for what types of injuries, and if there will be follow-ups. While such details may seem insignificant, the American public tends to expect maximum clarity about presidential health, as the public storm over President Joe Biden's mental acuity, one led by members of his own party, demonstrated.

Trump, when he was president, faced similar scrutiny about a serious case of COVID-19 he contracted in late 2020, which was far more serious than the White House at the time disclosed. He was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Now, though, the questions are surrounding the first assassination attempt in over four decades—and so far, there have been few answers.

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Alexander Nazaryan

Mary Ann AkersWashington Bureau Chief

Mary Ann AkersEditor

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