Renee White, wearing a blue hat that read “Make America Great Again” and a T-shirt that said “Mean Tweets 2024,” drove 14 hours from North Carolina to arrive at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, at 5:30 a.m. Saturday, then waited another 12 hours to meet the former president.
White attended the rally, which will go down in history as the day former President Donald Trump escaped assassination by inches at 6:11 p.m., for her 32nd time, and she sat on the center steps directly behind the 45th president. Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle interviewed White in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the Republican National Convention, and recounted the moment Trump stood, defiantly pumped his fist in the air and yelled “fight, fight, fight” to show Americans he had survived.
“It happened right in front of me and if you watch the video again you can see that the minute he stood up and did it, I stood up and did it with him,” White said.I thought to myself, ‘The fight is on. He’s not done. He’s not defeated. This can’t stop him.’ And that gave me hope.”
I fully support President Trump and wish him a speedy recovery. pic.twitter.com/ZdxkF63EqF
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White also detailed the terrifying moments before Trump stood, when shots rang out, the Secret Service rushed in and pandemonium erupted in the auditorium.
“I heard the first shot and I quickly stepped back and turned towards Trump, then I heard two more shots. I saw Trump clutch his ears and fall to the ground, but I still didn’t understand what was happening,” she said. “and [Secret Service] “He had a lot of people swarming him – probably five or six – Secret Service agents. They were guarding him,” she said, noting that she could see everything that went on behind the podium from her vantage point.
White told Boyle that watching fellow rally-goers duck into the stands to protect themselves from the gunfire “was very surreal, like I was having an out-of-body experience.”
“I was tired. I was in shock. A lot of people around me were lying down. As soon as we heard the shots, we all fell down. We were in the stands. There were about four girls next to me and they all fell down and were crying. There was a big guy next to me who fell down too and was trying to get in between the stands,” she said.
White said she heard three shots ring out before hearing return fire from the Secret Service and shooting and killing a gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. The reality of the situation hit her when she heard police making contact nearby and saw Trump on the ground behind the podium.
“I didn’t hear any screaming or crying. I didn’t hear what people were doing. It was like, [the law enforcement response] “That’s when I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is real,’ and then I heard, ‘The shooter is down,'” she said.
The assassination attempt left one man dead and two wounded: James “Jim” Copenhaver, 74, and David Duch, 57. The man who died trying to protect his daughter from the gunfire was later identified as former Pennsylvania State Fire Chief Corey Comperatore. Identified Two other victims sustained serious injuries as well, and authorities report that both are currently in stable condition.
White recalled Comperatore sitting on the steps to his right as the rally took place behind former President Trump.
“When I saw him he was in the top right corner of the stand. [first responders] “I took him away. I didn’t see him get shot. I saw them take him away,” she said, estimating the men were about 70 yards away from her.
When the gunman was killed and Trump stood up, White said he remembered the former president saying, “Let me put my shoes on,” and saw Trump standing in his socks. Trump later said Said New York Post“The agent hit me so hard that my shoes came off. And they were too tight.”
“When I saw the shoes and towels on the stage [Trump] “He was walking away and I saw what was there,” White said. “And that’s when I thought, ‘This could really be different.’ If they’d carried him off on a stretcher or something, that could have been the last we saw of him. It could have been very different.”
White said the unfortunate mistake showed “God has got him” and compared him to biblical figures such as Noah and Moses, who were “ordinary men” but used by God.
“And because they were obedient, [God] “He’s done it for them. He’s done what needed to be done. And that’s what’s going to happen with Trump,” she said. “I truly believe he’s going to bring unity and bring us together. I believe he has that fight and he has that hedge of protection because God is protecting him.”
