Nationally syndicated political reporter Salena Zito detailed her eyewitness account of the attempted assassination of former President Trump on Sunday.
Zito, who was at the presumptive Republican nominee’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday before she was supposed to interview him at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, told Fox News’ Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer what happened in the moments before, during and after the shooting.
Zito said she was about three feet away from the former president when she heard a “pop, pop, pop” and because she has been around guns all her life, she said she knew exactly what the sound was when it rang out. But, Zito said, the sound is often mistaken for fireworks.
While he had a red streak on his face, Zito said Trump “didn’t have a crumbling effect.”
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Journalist Salena Zito recalls her eyewitness account of the attempted assassination of former President Trump. (Screenshot/FNC)
“They often say when people see a traumatic event, and it goes in slow motion, they’re absolutely right,” she said. “I immediately saw law enforcement surround him. They formed the protective shield around him. They took a protective stance.” She clarified that the Secret Service “had him go down” and that Trump did not “fall down.”
While Zito said the Secret Service made sure everything was clear, she said she could hear the president ask to get his shoes before he turned to the crowd with his fist and said, “fight, fight, fight.”
“I think he actually said it more than three times,” she recalled. “He raises his fist, and I’m watching this, I’m right there and what I thought in that moment, is that he was trying to, and I think presidents intuitively do this, he wanted people to know, ‘It’s okay, we’re okay.'”
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Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is moved from the stage at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“He wanted to project strength because in that moment, you don’t want to feel as though your country is vulnerable, your president isn’t okay, and so I think he did a very effective job in that moment of doing that,” she added. “The instincts kicked in, and he made sure to let people know that he was okay. That really struck me.”
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Zito, meanwhile, said she was being protected by one of President Trump’s advanced campaign team members who threw his body on top of hers to protect her as the shot rang out.
“I will be forever grateful that sort of protection and worry that he felt,” she said. “I mean, he was laying on top of me for a good five minutes.”