A slight turn of his head meant the difference between life and death, former President Donald Trump said in a Monday interview that was published just 36 hours after he survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“The most incredible thing was that I happened to not only turn but to turn at the exact right time and in just the right amount,” former President Trump told the Washington Examiner Sunday while on his private jet as he flew to Milwaukee ahead of the Republican National Convention.
He added that if he only made a “half-turn” of his head, the bullet would “[hit] the back of the brain,” adding that “the other way goes right through [the skull].”
“And because the sign was high, I’m looking up. The chances of my making a perfect turn are probably one-tenth of one percent, so I’m not supposed to be here,” the former president said.
As the bullet was traveling at such a high speed near his head, he recalled, “I had to be at the exact right angle.” He added that the bullet “was an eighth of an inch away. That I would turn exactly at that second, where he [the gunman] wouldn’t stop the shot is pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. I’m really not supposed to be here.”
His former White House doctor, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), wrote on social media that he spoke with the former president over the weekend. He said the former president was looking at a chart detailing illegal migration into the United States as the shooter opened fire at the event in Bethel Hill, just about an hour away from Pittsburgh.
In post on Truth Social Sunday, former President Trump stated that he believes God spared his life, preventing “the unthinkable from happening” while other Republicans have said they felt the same.
The FBI has identified the suspect as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, and later Sunday, agents said that they believe he acted alone in what they described as an attempted assassination. As of Monday morning, federal officials have not identified a motive or if he was driven by a political animus, but it’s being investigated as domestic terrorism.
Pennsylvania State Police officials confirmed that one person, identified as Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed in the shooting. Two others, identified as 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver, were wounded and are in stable condition.
The former president, along with some Republicans and Democrats, have called for unity after the assassination attempt, while others have called for politicians and the media to tamp down highly partisan rhetoric.
“I’d love to achieve unity if you could achieve unity, if that’s possible,” former President Trump told reporters on Sunday while on his plane. “There are many good people on the other side … but there are also people who are very divided.”
But he asked later: “The question is can those two sides get together?”
Before he traveled to Milwaukee for the several-day-long event that will see the former president officially nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, GOP Chairman Michael Whatley told Newsmax on Sunday it will “have a very aggressive security posture” in light of the assassination attempt.
“The work that we have been doing with the Secret Service and over 40 different law enforcement agencies from all across Wisconsin … we are going to make absolutely sure that the 50,000 delegates, guests, alternates, and members of the press that are here are going to be safe when they come to Milwaukee for this convention,” he told Newsmax.
The convention will be held from Monday, July 15, until Thursday, July 18.
For the nominating convention, the former president said Sunday that he previously penned a “brutal” and “really tough” speech but he “threw it out” after the shooting in Pennsylvania. Now, he’ll focus on unifying the country, he stated.
“I think it would be very bad if I got up and started going wild about how horrible everybody is, and how corrupt and crooked, even if it’s true,” he said. “Had this not happened, we had a speech that was pretty well set that was extremely tough. Now, we have a speech that is more unifying.”
This article was originally published at The Epoch Times.
