Former US President Donald Trump has said he is “supposed to be dead” after Saturday night’s assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
In one of his first interviews since the incident, Mr. Trump told conservative US media he felt that he had been saved “by luck or by God.” He explained, “The most incredible thing was that I happened to not only turn [my head] but to turn at the exact right time and in just the right amount,” adding that the bullet that grazed his ear could have easily killed him. “I’m supposed to be dead, I’m not supposed to be here,” he said.
A spectator was killed in the attack, while two other people were seriously injured. The gunman, who also died, has been named as Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Mr. Trump described the moment he looked up at the crowd after realizing he had been shot. “The energy coming from the people there in that moment, they just stood there. It’s hard to describe what that felt like, but I knew the world was looking. I knew that history would judge this, and I knew I had to let them know we are OK,” he told the Washington Examiner.
Speaking as he prepared to board a flight to the upcoming Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he is expected to be confirmed as the party’s candidate for president, Mr. Trump said he now had a “chance to bring the country together.” He said his speech would now be completely different instead of the “humdinger” aimed mostly at current President Joe Biden’s policies he had previously planned. “Had [Saturday’s attack] not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches. Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now. It is a chance to bring the country together.”
Earlier, Mr. Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that he had intended to delay his trip to Wisconsin by two days. But he added that he was sticking to his original schedule as: “I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling.”
Mr. Trump said that the assassination attempt “has had an impact” on him.
Little is known about the motivation of Crooks, the 20-year-old would-be assassin who was shot dead by the Secret Service at the scene. The FBI has said that while its investigation suggests Crooks acted alone, it would continue to look into whether the kitchen worker had received help.
The spectator who was killed in Saturday’s attack has been named as Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer fire chief who died trying to protect his family.
In a televised address following the attack, President Biden called for the “temperature of politics” to be lowered. “We cannot, must not, go down this road again. We’ve traveled it before in our history,” said Mr. Biden, listing off a growing number of violent political acts that had taken place in the US in recent years. “In America we resolve our differences at the ballot box,” he added. “At the ballot box. Not with bullets.”
