Photographer Pete Souza, best known for his role as chief official White House photographer for Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, has deleted his X account after making controversial remarks concerning a photo of former President and current Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
On Saturday, July 27, Souza shared an Associated Press image of Trump boarding his plane earlier that day. The image, captured by photographer Doug Mills, showed Trump without a bandage on his ear. The bandage, which Trump has had since the July 13th assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, has become a trendy symbol for Trump’s supporters.
Mills was on hand for Trump’s July 13th rally and captured one of the most incredible photos of the event, showing a bullet whizzing past Trump on stage.
A remarkable photo captured by my former White House Press Corps colleague Doug Mills.
Zoom in right above President Trump’s shoulder and you’ll see a bullet flying in the air to the right of President Trump’s head following an attempted assassination. pic.twitter.com/FqmLBCytoW
— Haraz N. Ghanbari (@HarazGhanbari) July 14, 2024
Mills’ July 27th photo marked the first time Trump has been seen publicly without an ear bandage since the shooting, and Souza took the opportunity to question whether Trump had been shot.
Renowned photojournalist and White House photographer “no longer exists” on Twitter after posting an AP picture of Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/AfHqoZKrue
— David Leavitt 🎲🎮🧙♂️🌈 (@David_Leavitt) July 28, 2024
“AP photo this morning. Look closely at the ear that was ‘hit’ by a bullet from a AR-15 assault rifle,” Souza wrote in a post from his since-deleted X (formerly Twitter) account.
The FBI has said that Trump was struck by a “bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,” and Trump said today that he would sit with the FBI for a voluntary victim interview.
After Souza’s account vanished from X, there were some questions about whether he had been suspended or if the photographer had deleted it himself. Souza took to Instagram today, July 29, to clear the air.
“On Saturday, I was perplexed by photos online of Trump boarding his plane en route to a bitcoin conference. There was no bandage on his right ear. I re-posted one of the photos on Twitter and wrote, ‘look closely at his ear that was ‘hit’ by a bullet from a AR-15 assault rifle,” Souza writes.
Souza explains that while he is “accustomed to having vile and hateful comments thrown at me,” the photographer of the image in question, Doug Mills, also received hateful messages as a result of Souza’s post.
“I re-posted a screenshot of New York Times photographer Doug Mills’ Twitter post of the same situation of Trump boarding his plane, which included the date and time of his photo. Doug is one of Trump’s favorite photographers and Trump has publicly called him ‘my genius photographer.’ So I thought the maga world would at least believe Doug Mills.”
“They didn’t. The comments turned ugly. Mostly about me, but also some that disparaged Doug Mills,” Souza continues.
“So I de-activated my Twitter account. It was a gut decision, made only by me. I am still not sure if this is a temporary or a permanent action,” Souza continues.
Souza admits he didn’t think much about deleting his account on X until a reporter asked him if Elon Musk had kicked him off the platform for posting a photo of Trump’s ear.
“It was time to respond,” he says.