Assassination - I should be dead
Former President Donald Trump described the armed attack on him as a "very surreal experience." "I shouldn't be here, I should be dead," Trump told the New York Post in an interview released on Monday. If he had not turned his head slightly to show a migration statistics during his speech at the Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, he would have been shot, the 78-year-old said.
Instead, Trump was only lightly wounded in the ear during the attempted assassination at a campaign event in the US state of Pennsylvania. "Either by luck or God – many people say it's God, that I'm still here," Trump said.
Trump wearing a large white bandage
The interview was conducted on Sunday during Trump's flight to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was to be officially nominated as the Republican Party's presidential candidate at a party convention that week. During the interview, the former president wore a large white bandage over his right ear, according to the newspaper.
Trump also spoke about the iconic photo taken seconds after the shooting, which shows him with blood on his face, a clenched fist, and surrounded by security officers in front of the US flag. "Many people say it's the most iconic photo they've ever seen. They're right, and I'm not dead," Trump said.
Trump reported that he wanted to continue his speech after the shooting but was told by Secret Service agents that he was not safe and had to be taken to the hospital. There, the doctor told him he had never seen anything like it before, "he called it a miracle." The doctor reportedly had never seen anyone survive a gunshot wound from an AR-15 rifle before.
Ex-President praises officers
The former president praised the Secret Service officers for quickly neutralizing the suspect. "They took him out with a shot right between the eyes," Trump said. "They did a fantastic job."
Trump also described the moment the officers pulled him to the ground after the shooting. They came at him like football players, Trump said, and showed a bruise on his right forearm. He was so forcefully thrown to the ground by the officers that his "shoes came off." Before the officers escorted him off the stage, it was heard that Trump said, "Wait, I want to get my shoes."
In the interview, Trump also said he would revise his party convention speech due to the shooting. Originally, he had prepared a very harsh speech about the "terrible government" of President Joe Biden. But he threw away that text and now intended to give a speech that "unites our country." However, he was unsure if that was possible. The people were "very divided."
Trump and Biden spoke on the phone after the shooting. Biden called for calm in political discourse during a televised address on Sunday evening. It is necessary to "lower the temperature," the President said.
- The New York Post published an interview with Donald Trump on Monday, following his narrow escape from an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
- Trump was heading to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for his party convention as the Republican Party's presidential candidate, when the interview took place during his flight.
- Upon arrival in Milwaukee, the former president was seen wearing a large white bandage over his right ear, a reminder of the attempted assassination.
- During the interview, Trump praised the swift actions of the Secret Service officers who neutralized the suspect, stating they "took him out with a shot right between the eyes."
- After the shooting, Trump had planned to deliver a harsh speech criticizing President Joe Biden's government; however, the incident prompted him to revise it, aiming for a more unifying message in light of the country's divisiveness.
- In a show of solidarity, President Biden reached out to Trump after the shooting, appealing for a lowering of political discourse to foster unity in the United States.
