Former President Trump’s son Donald Trump, Jr. shared what his immediate reaction was on Saturday after learning his father had survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
“The first words out of my mouth were, ‘You’re the biggest bada– I’ve ever seen,’ and I actually mean that,” Trump Jr. said to Fox News‘ Aishah Hasnie at the Republican National Convention Monday.
A bullet grazed Trump’s ear in the shooting. One attendee was killed while two others were critically injured. After shots were fired, the former president pumped his fist in the air and told the crowd to “fight” as he was escorted away by Secret Service agents.
Trump Jr. said his father’s defiant demeanor, captured in a now viral photograph, was evidence of the kind of leadership America needs.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“Everyone these days is a tough guy on the internet or on a keyboard, but when you’ve actually been shot, and you can get up, defiant, fist in the air, telling people to stay in the game, to fight — That’s exactly the kind of leadership we need. That’s actually a man who has been tested,” he said. “Everyone thinks they’re going to be a tough guy. Most aren’t. He is. And I could not have been more impressed with him at that moment, and I’ve been impressed with him for a long time.”
Trump Jr. said he couldn’t get in touch with his father for about 90 minutes after the shooting because of security protocols, calling the waiting period “very tough.”
“That was a rough time. And then I spoke to him, I said what I said, and even in that moment, he was still having some levity, and he was back in the game. It was incredible,” he added.
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Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Butler Farm Show Inc. on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Shortly after, shots rang out and Trump slumped before being whisked away by the Secret Service with injuries visible to the side of his head. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Trump Jr. said the reality of what happened didn’t hit home until he saw the videos of the entire shocking incident.
“It was a life-changing experience,” he added.
The Secret Service has come under fire in the aftermath, as questions grow about how the shooter was able to access the rooftop and get in proximity to the former president.
Donald Trump Jr. praised the agents as “patriots” but admitted he had his own questions about how security was handled in light of the incident.
“For someone to get out on an open roof within 130 yards — I’m not going to be the guy to be conspiratorial, but something went wrong,” he said. Trump Jr. believed that the shooter’s distance from his father would’ve been an “easy” shot, and it was miraculous that the former president survived.
“That was truly divine intervention, as far as I’m concerned,” he continued.