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stated on July 17, 2024 in a Facebook post:

A photo shows proof of a bullet hole in Trump’s jacket.

Secret Service agents surround former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP)

By Mia Penner July 17, 2024

Does a photo show a bullet in Trump’s chest? No, it’s a crease in a Secret Service agent’s jacket

If Your Time is short

Although the photo is authentic, it doesn’t show proof of a bullet in former President Donald Trump’s chest.
The apparent hole is a crease in a Secret Service agent’s jacket. The crease was also captured in a video of the shooting’s aftermath, which shows it disappearing as the agent moves.
Neither Trump, the FBI investigators, nor any major news outlets have mentioned a bullet hitting Trump’s chest.

See the sources for this fact-check

Some social media users are claiming the shooter at the July 13 Pennsylvania rally not only grazed former President Donald Trump’s ear, but also burned a bullet hole through his chest.

A July 14 Facebook post stated that "Trump took a bullet, or a bullet fragment, in the chest but was saved by his bullet proof vest which he had just started wearing."

The Facebook post included a zoomed-in photo of Trump’s suit jacket, taken after the assassination attempt at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The photo appears to show a small hole below Trump’s underarm.

Similar claims surfaced in a July 14 Threads post.

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

The photo is authentic; it was captured by a photographer with The Associated Press. But it doesn’t show proof that a bullet hit Trump in his chest area.

Social Media

stated on July 24, 2024 in in social media posts

ABC News reporter said “government tried to kill” former President Donald Trump.

(Screenshot from Facebook.)

The apparent hole is actually a crease in the jacket of a Secret Service agent who was bending over to protect Trump. The crease was also captured at the 56-second mark in this AP video of the shooting’s aftermath, which shows it disappearing as the agent moves.

The AP snapped another photo just moments before the one with the apparent bullet hole. It shows a clearer image of Trump’s suit jacket as he raises his fist, and there’s no evidence of a hole.

Trump has never mentioned being shot in the chest. "I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear," he wrote July 13 on Truth Social.

Neither the FBI investigating the incident nor any major news outlets have reported on a second bullet burning a hole through Trump’s suit jacket.

We rate the claim that a photo shows proof of a bullet hole in Trump’s chest False.