Would not be hard to do that with analog fx equipment that’s standard for film / tv. They knew it’d be filmed and so it had to look like it happened to a reasonable extent. But slight of hand is part of a work. 

The effect on his ear in the video doesn’t match up with the ballistics gel being shot either. Gut feel, the thing feels staged through and through. His reaction. The comical bandage. No evidence of injury whatsoever after the fact. His cavalier attitude after the deep state “tried to murder” him. 

“If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, it’s a rat”