Fake Trump medical report spreads after assassination attempt

Amid calls for former US president Donald Trump to release more information about his condition after an assassination attempt in the state of Pennsylvania, an image shared on social media purports to show his medical evaluation. But the form originated as parody, and the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed it is fake.

"This is Trump's medical report," says a July 17, 2024 post on X.

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Screenshot from X taken July 19, 2024

The post -- one of several on X -- claims to show a Pennsylvania Department of Health "EMS Transfer of Care Form" filled out for Trump, whose ear was wounded in a July 13 shooting at a campaign rally.

The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania as the gunman who killed one spectator and injured two others before he was shot and killed by Secret Service snipers (archived here)

The form describes Trump as "screaming and ranting" and says he was not shot but suffered "a small scratch or nick" from "a small piece of airborne plexiglass." Some X users questioned whether the document was authentic.

"Is this for real?" one user commented under another post describing it as a "leaked" medical report.

Neither the Trump campaign nor the hospital he visited after the shooting has released detailed records of his condition or treatment -- and the form circulating online "is a fake," Mark O'Neill, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, told AFP.

"It was not completed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health," he said in a July 18 email. "The department has not released any report on the treatment of Mr Trump."

Instead of an ambulance, Secret Service agents ushered Trump into a black vehicle after the shooting, footage from his rally shows (archived here).

Local news outlets and eyewitnesses reported Trump walked into the hospital on his own after his motorcade arrived (archived here, here and here).

Post from parody account

The fabricated health record appears to come from an X account called "GOP Jesus," which took credit as its "creator" in response to other users who shared it.

The page's bio says it is "a parody account that reflects the GOP’s interpretation of Jesus's will and teachings."

The fake medical report's contents include several clues that it was created in jest. It misspells former first lady Melania Trump's name, references a 1968 diagnosis of bone spurs that exempted Trump from the military draft to fight in Vietnam, and records pulse and blood pressure numbers that seem impossibly high.

The list of medications also includes cocaine and treatments for schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and erectile dysfunction.

AFP contacted the Trump campaign and Butler Memorial Hospital, where Trump was treated, for comment, but no responses were forthcoming.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about the assassination attempt here.

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