Former President Donald Trump awards firefighters Corey ComperatorePresident Trump was nearly assassinated in July and was killed Saturday while returning to Butler, Pennsylvania.
President Trump praised Comperatore, whose wife Helen and children were also in attendance, as a hero for his actions, sacrificing his own life to protect his family from a gunman.
“Corey Comperatore was a wonderful husband and father, a devout Christian, a veteran, a proud former fire chief, and highly respected in the town. Everyone knew him. “I was,” Trump said. “Very few men willingly go into a fire, but Corey was one of them. He went into a fire.”
He described Comperatore as “a protector who would risk his life for others and loved doing it.”
“And then, on that July night, when a gunshot pierced the air, Corey jumped into the fire once more,” he continued. “In his last seconds on earth, he threw himself on his wife and daughter. He didn't want them to get hurt.”
“He gave his life to protect their lives,” Trump said. He said every American man would want to be a hero like Comperatore and protect his family the same way he would in the face of a murderer.
“All fathers and husbands in America hope that when the time comes, we have what Corey had: tremendous courage, tremendous courage. He wanted to protect his family. But I did protect my family,” he added.
At 6:11 p.m., exactly 12 weeks after Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on a rally, President Trump called for a moment of silence, followed by a stunning rendition of “Ave Maria” by opera singer Christopher Macchio. It was done.
Immediately after disembarking from the plane in Bruter, Trump met with Comperatore's family and shared a group hug before taking the stage. He praised them on stage as a “great family.”
