Trump spoke at length about the July 13 assassination attempt
‘Many people have asked me what happened, and so I will tell them what happened, and they will never hear it from me a second time, because it is too painful to tell.
It was a warm, beautiful evening in Butler Township, in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The music was loud and the campaign was going well.
I walked up on stage and the crowd was applauding me enthusiastically. I started speaking very excited because I was talking about the great work my administration did on immigration at the southern border.
Behind me and to the right was a large screen displaying a graph of the border crossings under my leadership.
The numbers were staggering. In order to see the graph, I started to turn to the right and was ready to start a new turn, which I was lucky I didn’t do, when I heard a loud hissing sound and felt something hit me, very hard, in my right ear.
I said to myself, “Wow, what was that? It could only be a bullet,” and I put my right hand to my ear, pulled it down, and my hand was covered in blood.
I immediately knew that it was very serious, that we were under attack, and in one movement I proceeded to fall to the ground.
Bullets continued to fly as very brave Secret Service agents ran onto the stage and pounced on me to protect me.
There was blood running everywhere, and yet in a way I felt very safe, because I had God on my side.
The amazing thing is that before the shot, if I had NOT moved my head at the last instant, the assassin’s bullet would have hit exactly the target and I would not be with you tonight.
The most incredible thing about what happened on that terrible night of setting sun was seen afterwards. In almost all cases, and when a single bullet is fired (and there were many), the crowd runs towards the exits or disperses, but not in this case.
This crowd of tens of thousands of people stood still without moving an inch. In fact, many of them bravely but automatically stood up facing where the sniper would be and began to aim at him.
No one ran, and by not stampeding, many lives were saved. But that wasn’t the reason they didn’t move: the reason is that they knew I was in serious trouble, they saw all the blood and thought I was dead, and they just didn’t want to leave me, and you can see that love written all over their faces.
Bullets were flying over us, but I felt calm, but now the Secret Service agents were putting themselves in danger. And then everything stopped. Our Secret Service sniper, from a much greater distance and with a single bullet, took out the assassin.
I should not be here tonight. I am here before you in this hall only by the grace of Almighty God. Many people say it was a providential moment.
When I stood up, surrounded by the Secret Service, the crowd was confused because they thought I was dead, and there was great pain on their faces until I raised my right arm, looked at the thousands of people waiting breathlessly, and began to shout FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!
Once my clenched fist rose into the air, the crowd realized I was okay and roared with pride for our country, like no crowd I have ever heard before.
For the rest of my life I will be grateful for the love shown by that gigantic audience of patriots who bravely stood their ground on that fateful night in Pennsylvania.