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| - Despite an increasingly clear picture of the timing and location of shots fired on former U.S. President Donald Trump during an attempted assassination at a July 13, 2024, Trump rally, skepticism over the question of whether or not Trump was hit with a bullet remained on social media days later:
Skepticism over the notion that Trump had actually been hit by a bullet was fueled by anonymously sourced reports that he was "not struck by a bullet, but hit by glass fragments" from a teleprompter that had been hit by a bullet.
Reporters from both Newsmax and Axios reported on a source making this claim, which was then amplified by other outlets including Raw Story. Some went so far as to call the purported disclosure evidence of a "stunt."
There was, however, no evidence to suggest anything other than a bullet caused the wound to Trump's ear, and these early reports to the contrary have largely been walked back.
The assertion that glass, not a bullet, caused the injury is undercut by the fact that photographs show no damage to the teleprompters allegedly hit to produce the broken glass, by a New York Times photograph capturing a bullet passing by Trump's ear, and by the fact that Trump later stated, on Truth Social, that a bullet had, in fact, pierced his ear:
I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin.
Trump's description of his wound matches photographs of his ear after he was hit, prior to being removed from stage. The two circles below, added by Snopes, highlight two areas that appear to show torn skin:
Following initial publication of this piece, several users online took umbrage with our assertion that there was no evidence of broken teleprompters, sharing this photo as purported evidence of a shattered teleprompter:
However, this photograph, a low-resolution version of an image taken by Getty Images photographer Anna Moneymaker, does not show a damaged teleprompter. The purported damage shown in the top right corner is merely a reflection of some object, as seen below in a zoomed-in, higher-resolution version of the same photograph:
Other photographs taken after the above photograph show two intact teleprompter screens. The photo below comes after the would-be assassin's shots were fired because the armed and helmeted law enforcement officer at the bottom left did not get onto the stage until the shots stopped, based on video of the event:
Here is that same moment photographed from a different angle, clearly showing two intact teleprompters:
Other video from after the incident shows two intact teleprompters as well.
The theory that glass from a teleprompter caused Trump's wound requires a broken teleprompter. There is no evidence to support the notion that either of the teleprompters at the rally was broken at any point during or after the attempted assassination.
The theory that Trump's injury stemmed from a bullet, on the other hand, requires a shooter and a bullet. Unlike broken teleprompters, a shooter has been identified and a photograph documents the existence of a bullet passing by Trump's head.
Because there is photographic evidence of a bullet, and of a wound caused by a bullet, early and imprecisely sourced claims that Trump's injuries stemmed from broken glass are "False."
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