Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump revealed more details about his phone call with President Joe Biden after the attempt on Trump’s life during a campaign rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, earlier this month.
Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), sat down with Fox News host Jesse Watters for an interview that aired on Monday, and Trump told Watters that he had a “nice conversation” with the 81-year-old president after the shooting.
“He said, ‘You’re lucky you turned to the right,’” Trump said of his chat with Biden.
Last week, Biden told NBC News’ Lester Holt that he had a “very cordial” conversation with Trump after the assassination attempt.
“I told him how concerned I was and wanted to make sure I knew how he was actually doing,” Biden said. “He sounded good. He said he was fine, and he thanked me for calling.”
“I told him he was literally in the prayers of Jill and me, and his whole family was weathering this,” the president added.
Trump was shot in the right ear after he slightly turned his head to look at a chart on illegal immigration statistics. Analysis of the shooting and the path of the bullet has shown if Trump had not moved his head at that moment, the bullet would have likely hit his brain.
The 20-year-old shooter gained access to a roof fewer than 150 yards away from the stage at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on July 13 and was spotted by Secret Service snipers 20 minutes before he fired upon the former president, according to law enforcement officials. While Trump expressed his gratitude to the Secret Service agents who rushed to his aid on the stage after he went down, he questioned how the gunman successfully got multiple shots off at such a close distance.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday morning, Trump blasted the White House over the assassination attempt, writing, “The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!”
Trump also told the Fox News host that Secret Service agents wanted to put him on a stretcher after he had been shot, but he told them that he was fine to stand up and walk on his own.
“They had a stretcher, and they wanted to put me on a stretcher,” Trump said. “And I said, ‘I’m not going on a stretcher.'”
“I said, ‘I’m telling you, I’m OK. I’m fine. I’m going to get up. I want to get up. I’m not going to be taken out on a stretcher,’” he added.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was grilled by Congress on Monday over her agency’s failure to prevent the assassination attempt on Trump. During the hearing, Republicans and Democrats urged her to resign, and she announced on Tuesday that she would step down from her position.
“Somebody should’ve made sure there was nobody on that roof. That roof was a dead aim right onto the stage,” Trump told Watters. “And they said they didn’t have the manpower for it, which is crazy. A hundred thirty yards is like sinking a one-foot putt. It’s considered really close.”
“You have to answer: why couldn’t I have stayed off the stage for five minutes while they do their work?” he added. “Why couldn’t, you know, how does a situation happen where a roof that’s plainly in sight from the location where I was speaking … why would somebody not have seen that?”
Source link