Was Trump's 2024 Assassination Attempt Get Staged? Inside The Viral Image Claim
The image was shared by an X user, who goes by the name Trisha Hope, on April 19, 2026. The caption read, "Please point to the bullet hole," implying that the assassination attempt had been faked.
Published April 22 2026, 12:29 p.m. ET
Donald Trump
A close-up image of President Donald Trump is being circulated on several social media platforms, such as X, Facebook, and Reddit, where it can clearly be seen that his right ear is unimpaired following the infamous 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Netizens are questioning the authenticity of the image. The image was shared by an X user, who goes by the name Trisha Hope, on April 19, 2026. The caption read, "Please point to the bullet hole," implying that the assassination attempt had been faked.
Trump's wounded right ear after attack in Butler, Pennsylvania
Another X user came in Hope’s defense and said, “Another giveaway is that the Secret Service did not remove his suit jacket. When the Secret Service removed his jacket, the search came back that they did not remove it. Sad that so many either don’t know how to do a search or are too lazy. The third option is that they know it’s fake and are just trying to deceive.”
However, most people were quick to point out that the image is fake because multiple authentic news outlets published photos of Trump from the site of the attack, where his right ear was visibly a bl*ody mess.
Photo of Trump's Ear After the 2024 Shooting Is Going Viral — Snopes Says It's Fake
On July 13, 2024, a man named Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired multiple shots at the stage where Trump was speaking during a campaign rally, killing one attendee and injuring two critically. One bullet pierced through the upper part of Trump’s right ear. U.S. Secret Service agents killed the shooter shortly after.
In the newly emerged photos, Trump’s right ear appears to be unharmed, contrasting the claim that his ear had been permanently chipped owing to the attack.
Photo of rifle used in Trump assassination attempt released by FBI
However, according to Snopes, an online fact checking website, the image that is being circulated is inauthentic. The operators reported that they went through an elaborate process to determine whether or not the image was fake. “We uploaded the image into Google Lens to perform a reverse image search. Next, we used search engines such as DuckDuckGo, Google, and Yahoo with phrases like "Trump helped out of the car in Butler, PA,” they said in their conclusion.
They further added, “If the image were legitimate, journalists with reputable news outlets would have documented it, and evidence would exist in credible media repositories, such as Getty Images. However, looking through Getty Images' collection of photographs from the assassination attempt revealed several discrepancies."
X user claims assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler was staged SOURCE; X/@JUSTTHETWEETS17
"Legitimate images showed that blood had collected around Trump's ear, with two streaks on the front of his face. An image of Trump entering his car, credited to The Washington Post, clearly showed a small chunk of his ear was missing.”
The moderators explained that, unlike images on authentic photo libraries on Getty Images, the new photo has relatively fewer bloodied spots on Trump’s forehead. They came to the conclusion that the image had been generated using artificial intelligence.