Donald Trump has revealed for the first time what his youngest son, Barron, was doing during the assassination attempt nearly two months ago.
The former president told Fox News’ Mark Levin that the 18-year-old was “outside taking a tennis lesson” when the terrifying scene unfolded at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Republican presidential candidate claims Barron, 18, found out because someone “ran” up to him and yelled: “Barron! Barron! Your father was shot!”
Barron then ran to his mother Melania to ask what had happened, Trump said, adding that his wife “was actually watching it live.”
Trump, 78, was shot at the July 13 rally, with the bullet passing through his right ear. He says it was a “miracle” and an act of God that he survived.
Donald Trump, during an interview with Fox News’ Mark Levin, revealed that his youngest son, Barron, was “outside taking a tennis lesson” when a gunman tried to kill him. Trump is pictured moments after the shooting
Barron, who Trump says is a “good tennis player,” was on the court when he was first told about the assassination attempt.
“He was… he loves his father, he’s a good kid, good student, good athlete actually… and he ran, ‘Mom! What’s going on? What’s going on?'” Trump said of Barron’s initial reaction to the news.
He explained that Melania had been watching the demonstration live and was shocked when she heard gunshots and saw him crouch on the ground behind the podium.
“She couldn’t believe it. I was watching it live, can you imagine? And then I stood up and told people I was OK,” he said, noting how he stood up, raised his fist in the air and yelled to the crowd: “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
“I told everyone it was okay, but it was a success, a big success.”
Trump says he has asked his wife how she “feels” about the situation, but says “she can’t even talk about it, which is fine because that means she likes me.”
He also recounted how his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who he said was “great with guns,” called him afterward and said: “I can’t believe it. From that distance, I can’t believe it.”
“From that distance it’s supposed to be a sure thing. It’s like putting with one foot,” Trump said, adding: “If I turned a little less or a little more. If I turned more or less, it would still be the end.”
“It’s God. I know people who have become believers in God because of it.”
Barron, 18, found out because someone “ran” up to him and yelled: “Barron! Barron! Your father has been shot!” The teenager, who graduated from high school in May (pictured), “ran” to his mother, Melania Trump, and said: “Mom! What’s going on? What’s going on?”
Trump explained that Melania had been watching the rally live and was shocked when she heard gunshots and saw him crouching to the ground behind the podium. He is pictured with his wife and son Barron at Ivana Trump’s funeral on July 20, 2022 in New York City.
Last week, the FBI revealed that investigators who have conducted nearly 1,000 interviews still do not have a motive for why 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump during a campaign rally in July.
IThey believe Crooks carried out “extensive attack planning,” including targeting campaign events involving both Trump and current President Joe Biden, particularly in western Pennsylvania.
The FBI’s analysis of online search history reveals “a sustained and detailed effort to plan an attack against some event, meaning it looked at any number of events or targets,” Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, told reporters last week.
Once a Trump rally was announced for July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, “he became inordinately focused on that specific event and viewed it as a target of opportunity,” Rojek said.
Crooks’ internet searches in the days leading up to the rally included queries about the grounds where the rally was held, “Where will Trump be speaking at the Butler Farm Show?”, “Butler Farm Show podium” and “Butler Farm Show photos.”
In the 30 days before the attack, the FBI says, Crooks conducted more than 60 internet searches related to Biden and Trump, including the dates of the Democratic and Republican national conventions.
FBI Director Christopher Wray previously revealed that a week before the shooting, Crooks did a Google search for “How far was Oswald from Kennedy?”
This is an apparent reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the gunman who killed President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
This image provided by the FBI shows Thomas Matthew Crooks’ rifle disassembled, likely for transport, and the backpack recovered at the scene in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
This image provided by the FBI shows Thomas Matthew Crooks’ rifle as it was recovered at the scene in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
This image provided by the FBI shows two improvised explosive devices as they were initially discovered in Thomas Matthew Crooks’ car at the scene in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
The new details add to an emerging portrait of Crooks as a highly intelligent and reclusive man who investigators say in the years before the shooting had shown a disturbing interest in explosives, violence and prominent public figures — but whose internet searches of Democrats and Republicans alike have thwarted efforts to assign a simple political motive or establish why Trump himself would have been targeted.
“We have a good idea of the killer’s mindset, but we’re not prepared to make any conclusive statements about motive at this time,” Rojek said. The FBI also has not found that anyone else had prior knowledge of the shooting or that Crooks conspired with anyone else.
The FBI found explosive devices in his car and at his home, and investigators say their internet searches revealed that since at least 2019 he had sought information about bomb-making materials, including how remote detonators work.
The FBI said Trump was hit in the ear by a bullet or a bullet fragment during the assassination attempt.
The gunmen fired eight shots from an AR-style rifle. One protester was killed and two others were wounded before the gunman, who was positioned on the roof of a building less than 150 yards away, was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Also last week, the FBI released images of the rifle Crooks used, his backpack and improvised explosive devices found in his car.