Shots fired at Trump: Reporter – “Police officer probably followed assassin”

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Former US President Donald Trump has described the gun attack on him as a “very surreal experience”. “I shouldn’t be here, I should be dead,” Trump said in an interview with the tabloid New York Post published on Monday. If he hadn’t turned his head slightly to the right during his speech to read out migration statistics, he would have been killed by the bullet, said the 78-year-old.

Instead, Trump was only slightly injured in the ear in the attempted assassination on Saturday during a campaign rally in the US state of Pennsylvania. “By luck or God – many people say it is by God that I am still here,” said the former president. The interview was conducted on Sunday during Trump’s flight to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he is to be officially nominated as a candidate for the presidential election in November at a Republican convention this week. During the interview, the former president wore a large white bandage over his right ear, according to the newspaper.

Trump comments on iconic photo

Trump also commented on the now iconic photo, which shows him in the seconds after the attack with blood on his face and his fist raised, surrounded by security officers in front of the US flag. “A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen. They’re right, and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic photo.”

Trump also reported that he wanted to continue his speech after the attack. But Secret Service officials told him he was not safe and that they would have to take him to the hospital. There, the doctor told him he had never seen anything like it before, “he called it a miracle.” The doctor said he had never seen anyone survive a gunshot wound from an AR-15 rifle before.

The former president praised Secret Service officers for quickly shooting the suspected perpetrator. “They took him out with a shot right between the eyes,” he said. “They did a fantastic job.”

Biden talks to former president on the phone

Trump also described the moment when the officers tackled him to the ground after the shooting. They flew at him like football players, he said, showing a graze on his right forearm. He was knocked over so hard by the officers that his “shoes fell off.” Before the officers escorted him away from the stage, Trump was heard saying, “Wait, I want to get my shoes.”

The former president also said in the interview that he was revising his party convention speech because of the attack. He had originally prepared “an extremely harsh speech” about the “terrible administration” of President Joe Biden. But he threw that text away and now wants to give a speech “that unites our country.” However, he does not know whether this is possible. People are “very divided.”

Trump and Biden spoke on the phone after the attack. Biden, for his part, called for moderation in the political debate in a televised address on Sunday evening (local time). It was necessary to “lower the temperature,” the president said.