Altered image removes Secret Service agents’ earpieces | Fact check

An Aug. 26 Threads post (direct link, archive link) includes a photo of seven U.S. Secret Service agents helping former President Donald Trump off the stage after he was injured in an assassination attempt July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. None of the agents appear to be wearing earpieces in the image.
“Apparently Secret Service agents are now on leave as the investigation grows,” reads text above the image. “Trump apparently never went to the hospital?! Someone made a great point – none of these Secret Service agents have their earpieces in.”
The post was reposted more than 40 times in two days.
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The image is altered. The original photos of the scene show the agents were wearing earpieces.
High-resolution photos captured by Getty Images matching the scene and angle of the Threads image show at least three Secret Service agents with clearly visible earpieces as they helped Trump off the stage. The image in the Threads post appears to be altered in a way to remove or obscure the earpieces.
A photo gallery compiled by The Guardian that captured the agents in the Threads image at different angles also shows they were wearing earpieces.
The Threads post also questions whether Trump was taken to a hospital after his ear was struck by a bullet in the attempt on his life. But he was rushed to the hospital following the shooting, according to news reports and statements from officials.
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Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, Trump’s former White House physician, wrote in a July 20 memo that the former president was “initially treated by the medical staff at Butler Memorial Hospital in Butler, Pennsylvania, who did an excellent job of evaluating him and treating his wound.”
It was also widely reported that he was treated at Butler Memorial Hospital after the shooting. And Trump thanked Butler Memorial Hospital staff during a July 31 rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The Threads post also suggests Secret Service agents were placed on leave following the rally shooting.
News reports conflict on this point, but the Secret Service has not publicly disclosed any action against the agents.
“The U.S. Secret Service’s mission assurance review is progressing, and we are examining the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure,” Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesperson for the agency, said in an email. “The U.S. Secret Service holds our personnel to the highest professional standards, and any identified and substantiated violations of policy will be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility for potential disciplinary action. Given this is a personnel matter, we are not in a position to comment further.”
The Threads user who shared the image did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
LeadStories and AFP Fact Check also debunked the claim.
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