‘Beautiful moment’: Trump recalls fist pump after shooting, reveals what Biden told him
Donald Trump has revealed more details about his assassination attempt, including what Joe Biden told him after the attempt on his life.
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Donald Trump has given his first full account of the failed attempt on his life, saying the crowd at the rally in Pennsylvania thought he was dead and that his iconic fist pump was a “beautiful moment”.
Speaking on Fox News in a joint interview with running mate JD Vance, the former US president also revealed what US President Joe Biden told him on their call after the assassination attempt.
“He said, ‘You’re lucky you turned to the right,’” Mr Trump told Fox News host Jesse Watters.
Mr Trump also revealed that he refused to be carried off stage on a stretcher as he gave more detail about why he asked the Secret Service agents coming to his rescue to let him collect his shoes.
“Well, they wanted to put me on a stretcher,” Mr Trump told Fox News.
“I said, ‘I’m not going on a stretcher’, because I just felt it was the ear and there was a lot of blood coming.”
Mr Trump said due to the massive amount of blood pouring from his ear, the Secret Service agents thought he had been wounded elsewhere.
“They thought I was hit, actually, in this area,” he said, pointing to his chest.
“And I wasn’t, I said, ‘I’m telling you, I’m okay, I’m fine, I’m gonna get up, I want to get up and I’m not going to the taken out on a stretcher.
“We had a little argument — I had six guys lying on top of me — strong guys too.
“And brave guys, they ran on that stage very quick, I was down for the most part.
Mr Trump said when he looked at his bloodied hand as he was down on the stage in Butler, he realised the situation was “very serious”.
“I put my hand up and it had blood all over it but I had a lot of big, strong humans on top of me, who were very brave humans because they were running into fire.
Mr Trump said the moment he was shot was “bedlam” as he recalled putting his hand up to his ear and immediately dropping to the ground.
He said he told the agents “let’s go” when he realised the gunman was most likely dead as the hail of bullets had stopped.
“The shooting had stopped so I assumed they had probably got him,” Mr Trump told Fox News.
“I believe they got him with him with one shot, an unbelievable shot.”
Mr Trump defended the actions of the sniper who shot dead gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, saying they could not have done it any earlier.
“If they had done it earlier ... maybe doing it earlier is hard — it’s hard to shoot someone when you’re not 100 per cent sure.
“But they got him, and had they not got him, it could have been a lot worse situation.”
The former US president paid tribute to Corey Comperatore, who was killed in the gun attack as well as the two other men injured, James Copenhaver and David Dutch
“Great men were very badly hurt, I got to know them, and Corey was killed,” he said.
Mr Trump said he refused to lie on a stretcher and “forced” his way up.
“Once I was up, I realised, everyone was stunned - thousands and thousand of people.
Mr Trump said the crowd behind him stood still and that “nobody stampeded”.
Senator Vance interjected, commending the crowd for staying calm amid the chaos.
“It was love, they didn't move,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump said when he stood up and pumped his fist, the crowd realised he was okay.
“It was a beautiful moment,” he said.
During the interview, Mr Trump and Senator Vance claimed the Democratic Party orchestrated a coup against Mr Biden, and called on Congress to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.
“I think it is [a coup attempt],” Senator Vance told Fox News host Jesse Watters.
When asked if the Democrats staged a coup, Trump began “sort of” before Senator Vance agreed.
“There’s a constitutional process, the 25th Amendment. If Joe Biden can’t run for president, he can’t serve as president and, if they want to take him down because he’s mentally incapable of serving, invoke the 25th Amendment,” Senator Vance said.
“You don’t get to do this in the most politically beneficial way for Democrats. If it’s an actual problem, they should take care of it the appropriate way.”
The interview, taped before Mr Biden made his announcement, comes after Mr Trump said on social media that Mr Biden had his candidacy “stolen” by Democratic Party elites.
‘TWO WORDS’: TRUMP BLASTS HARRIS
Donald Trump has blasted Kamala Harris in one of his first interviews since US President Joe Biden dropped out of the White House race, saying he has “two words” to describe the Vice President and they are a “bad combination”.
“There are two words to describe Kamala Harris. Vicious and dumb, it’s a bad combination,” Mr Trump told The New York Post.
Earlier, Mr Trump and running mate JD Vance
“I think it is [a coup attempt],” Senator Vance told Fox News host Jesse Watters in an exclusive interview to air at 10am AEST.
When asked if the Democrats staged a coup, Trump began “sort of” before Senator Vance agreed.
“There’s a constitutional process, the 25th Amendment. If Joe Biden can’t run for president, he can’t serve as president and, if they want to take him down because he’s mentally incapable of serving, invoke the 25th Amendment,” Senator Vance said.
“The Democrats pick a candidate, Crooked Joe Biden, he loses the Debate badly, then panics, and makes mistake after mistake, is told he can’t win, and decide they will pick another candidate, probably Harris. They stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries — A First! These people are the real THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!” Mr Trump said.
“It’s a new day and Joe Biden doesn’t remember quitting the race yesterday! He is demanding his campaign schedule and arranging talks with Presidents Xi of China, and Putin of Russia, concerning the possible start of World War 3. Biden is “sharp, decisive, energetic, angry, and ready to go!”
‘NEVER HAD COVID’: TRUMP SLAMS BIDEN
Donald Trump has unleashed on Joe Biden, demanding he immediately quit the presidency and even claiming he made up the Covid diagnosis that forced him off the campaign trail as he decided his future.
Barely a week after the former president was almost assassinated, which had prompted him to press for national unity, Mr Trump berated Mr Biden in a string of angry social media posts in which he also accused the 81-year-old President’s team of lying about his competence.
Biden never had Covid. He is a threat to Democracy!@realDonaldTrump Donald Trump Truth Social 10:26 PM EST 07/21/24
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) July 22, 2024
It came as the former president’s campaign chiefs and his running mate JD Vance sought to brand Vice President Kamala Harris with Mr Biden’s policy failures, pivoting to a likely match-up that had seemed impossible only a month ago.
Mr Trump – who was confirmed as the Republican nominee at the party’s convention last week – vented that Mr Biden was the “worst president, by far, in the history of our nation”.
“Who is running our country right now? It’s not Crooked Joe, he has no idea where he is,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“If he can’t run for office, he can’t run our country!!!”
In a separate post, he added: “He was not fit to serve from the very beginning, but the people around him lied to America about his complete and total mental, physical and cognitive demise.”
And Mr Trump even claimed that Mr Biden “never had Covid” and had “wanted to get out” of the race since he was “completely obliterated” in their debate last month.
“He is a threat to Democracy,” the Republican fumed.
Mr Biden’s doctor had issued daily reports about the President’s Covid diagnosis since he was forced into isolation last week amid a last-ditch effort to revive his flailing campaign.
Mr Trump’s call for Mr Biden for the President to immediately relinquish the Oval Office was backed by senior Republicans including his vice presidential pick JD Vance, who said there was “no middle ground” after the Democratic veteran abandoned his campaign.
“Not running for re-election would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as commander-in-chief,” Senator Vance said.
Similarly accusing Mr Biden of being “the worst president in my lifetime”, Mr Trump’s running mate blasted the administration’s policies that saw a record influx of illegal migrants and soaring inflation, adding that the Vice President “owns all of these failures”.
Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, the architects of Mr Trump’s campaign to return to the White House, said Ms Harris was “just as complicit as Biden is in the destruction of our once-great nation”.
“Kamala Harris is just as much of joke as Biden is,” they said in a memo.
“Harris has been the enabler-in-chief for Crooked Joe this entire time. They own each other’s records, and there is no distance between the two.”
While the Republican Party had used last week’s convention to attack Mr Biden’s record, senior figures said they had been preparing behind the scenes for the possibility that he would be replaced.
Mr Trump also pushed to overhaul plans for a second presidential debate on September 10 that was due to be hosted by US TV network ABC.
He said it should instead be held on Fox News, although it remained unclear whether Ms Harris – or whoever prevailed as the Democratic nominee – would agree to the contest that Mr Biden had negotiated.
Originally published as ‘Beautiful moment’: Trump recalls fist pump after shooting, reveals what Biden told him
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