Nearly 24 hours after being shot through the ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, former President Donald Trump met with several journalists on Saturday night to talk about his experience with death and the upcoming Republican National Convention.
Trump gave the interview during a flight from Bedminster, New Jersey, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the Republican National Convention will be held from Monday to Thursday. Salena Zito Similar Michael Goodwin and Byron YorkHe recalls the moment he escaped near-certain assassination by just an inch.
“I love them. They’re just such great people.”
“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” he told Goodwin and York. “I’m supposed to be dead.”
“I rarely take my eyes off the crowd,” he added to Zito. “If I hadn’t done so at that moment, we wouldn’t be talking today, right?”
Trump later claimed doctors described his near-fatal encounter as a “miracle” and also appeared to accept the possibility of divine intervention, acknowledging that he survived “by luck or by God.”
“A lot of people say it’s only because of God that I’m still here.”
Trump also commented on the viral photos that captured the moments immediately following the shooting, openly agreeing with Goodwin and York that the images have now become “iconic.”
“A lot of people are saying this is the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” Trump said. “They’re right and I’m not dead. To get an iconic photo, you usually have to die.”
As Secret Service agents swarmed him and blood streamed from his face, Trump explained why he pumped his fist, claiming he felt a duty to lead his supporters, who remained calm in the face of danger.
“A lot of places, especially at football games, you hear one gunshot and everybody runs. Here we heard multiple gunshots and they stayed put,” Trump said.
“The energy that emanated from those people who were there in that moment, just standing there. It’s hard to describe what it felt like, but we knew the world was watching. We knew history would judge this and we knew we had to let people know that we were OK,” he continued.
“I love them. They’re just such great people.”
Trump also paid tribute to former Pennsylvania fire chief Corey Comperatore, who was killed in the shooting, and the two men who were wounded, and promised to “call all of the families” of the victims.
“America keeps moving forward, we keep moving forward.”
While Trump and the crowd responded, the former president had to deal with some practical issues that arose from the incident, including that a Secret Service agent quickly tackled him like a “linebacker,” knocking his shoe off and leaving bruised skin, he said.
He has since profusely thanked the agents, claiming that “they did a fantastic job.” He has also publicly acknowledged the heroic intervention they made to save his life, including escorting him off the stage despite his objections.
“I just wanted to keep talking,” Trump insisted, “but I got shot.”
Trump will soon have a major opportunity to address the nation with the Republican National Convention set to begin Monday ahead of his formal certification as the party’s nominee on Thursday. Trump told Goodwin, York and Zito that the assassination attempt had prompted him to rewrite the convention speech he had prepared.
“The speech I was supposed to give on Thursday was going to be epic,” he told Zito. “If this hadn’t happened, it would have been one of the most amazing speeches ever.”
He said that while the original speech had denounced the “corrupt, awful” Biden administration, the revised version seeks to “unite our country.” “This is a chance to unite the whole country, even the whole world,” he said. “The speech will be very different than it was two days ago.”
Perhaps in a grudging show of solidarity, Trump told Goodwin and York that he had a “great” conversation with “very gracious” Joe Biden on Saturday night, just hours after the shooting.
But Trump remains skeptical of true American unity. “Some people want open borders, some people don’t,” he said. “Some people want men to be able to play on girls’ sports teams, some people don’t.”
Despite the bitter divisions, Trump said he wanted to convey a message of strength and hope for the future, the same lessons learned from the deadly shooting.
“America keeps moving forward, we keep moving forward,” he said.
“We are strong.”
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