Donald Trump is reacting in the aftermath of the assassination attempt he survived in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
As we’ve been reporting, the former president-slash-current presidential candidate was nearly killed after an assassin fired bullets at him from a rooftop more than 100 yards away from the stage where Trump was speaking to his supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon.
Related: Donald Trump Was THIS CLOSE To Dying! See HERE!
In comments made to the New York Post on Sunday after the shooting, Trump said it as a “very surreal experience” and that he was “supposed to be dead” rather than sitting on a plane and flying to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which takes place this week. Per that outlet, Trump had a large bandage covering his right ear — and asked that no photos be taken of his injuries.
He was very open to talking about it, though. Referring to his survival “a miracle,” and saying the doctor who treated him was shocked over it, Trump said:
“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle. I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead. I’m supposed to be dead.”
Trump also recounted the immediate aftermath of the shooting. He’d been tackled by Secret Service agents who he called “linebackers” right after the shooting started. They then rushed him off stage, during which he could be heard asking about his shoes. Video from the scene picked up Trump saying this as they escorted him off the stage:
“Wait, I want to get my shoes.”
But as he explained to the NYP, there was a reason for that — Secret Service agents hit him so hard that he lost them on stage:
“The agents hit me so hard that my shoes fell off, and my shoes are tight.”
He also commended other Secret Service agents who shot and killed the would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks. The candidate said:
“They took him out with one shot right between the eyes. They did a fantastic job. It’s surreal for all of us.”
And in a distinctly Trumpian way, he also bragged about the photos that have come out of the incident in the aftermath. As you’ve no doubt seen, images of Trump holding his fist up and saying “fight” to the crowd with blood running down his face and Secret Service agents all around him have gone viral. He said of the pictures:
“A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen. They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
He also claimed that the doctor at the local hospital in Butler told Trump that he’d never seen anyone survive getting hit by an AR-15. Though there’s been no official confirmation it was a bullet or shrapnel, the former president said:
“By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here.”
There was one person who died at the incident, with two others seriously wounded. The man who died, Corey Comperatore, was a firefighter who was killed by a stray bullet that had missed Trump.
Related: HOW Did The Shooting At The Donald Trump Rally Happen?? Well…
During the interview, Trump told aides that he wanted to support Comperatore’s family, and get the phone numbers of the families of those wounded in the attack to share his support with them, too:
“Get the numbers, I want to go to the hospital and call all the families.”
Trump also praised the rest of the crowd who came to the rally, too, saying how impressed he was that they remained calm during the incident:
“A lot of places, especially soccer games, you hear a single shot, everybody runs. Here there were many shots and they stayed. I love them. They are such great people.”
Trump is also set to accept the GOP’s nomination for President at the Milwaukee convention this week — and he’s going to be giving a far different speech this time around than he had planned. He told the outlet that he altered the content of his speech and hopes to be able to unite the country moving forward:
“I had all prepared an extremely tough speech, really good, all about the corrupt, horrible administration. But I threw it away. I want to try to unite our country. But I don’t know if that’s possible. People are very divided.”
FWIW, he did confirm that he talked to President Joe Biden in the aftermath of the shooting, too. He called the conversation “fine” and said that Biden was “very nice.” So, that’s good. Thoughts, y’all?
To learn more about the impact of gun violence, visit https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/gun-violence.
[Image via Fox News/YouTube]
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