Let me begin this evening by expressing my gratitude to
the American people for your outpouring of love and support
following the assassination attempt at my rally on Saturday.
As you already know, the Assassin's bullet came within 1/4
of an inch of taking my life.
So many people have asked me what happened.
Tell us what happened, please, and therefore I will tell
you exactly what happened, and you'll never hear it from
me a second time because it's actually too painful to
tell.
It was a warm, beautiful day in the early evening
in Butler Township in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Music was loudly playing and the campaign was doing really
well.
I went to the stage and the crowd was cheering
wildly.
Everybody was happy.
I began speaking very strongly, powerfully and happily because I
was discussing the great job my administration did on immigration
at the southern border.
We were very proud of it.
Behind me and to the right was a large screen
that was displaying a chart of border crossings under my
leadership.
The numbers were absolutely amazing.
In order to see the chart, I started to like
this turn to my right and was ready to begin
a little bit further turn, which I'm very lucky I
didn't do, when I heard a loud whizzing sound and
felt something hit me really really hard on my right
ear.
I said to myself, wow, what was that?
It can only be a bullet.
And moved my right hand to my ear, brought it
down.
My hand was covered with blood, just absolutely blood all
over the place.
I immediately knew it was very serious that we were
under attack and in one movement proceeded to drop to
the ground.
Bullets were continuing to fly as very brave Secret Service
agents rushed to the stage, and they really did.
They rushed to the stage.
These are great people at great risk, I will tell
you, and pounced on top of me so that I
would be protected.
There was blood pouring everywhere.
And yet in a certain way I felt very safe
because I had God on my side.
I felt that the amazing thing is that prior to
the shot, if I had not moved my head at
that very last instant, the Assassin's bullet would have perfectly
hit its mark and I would not be here tonight.
We would not be together.
The most incredible aspect of what took place on that
terrible evening in the fading sun was actually seen later
in almost all cases, as you probably know.
And when even a single bullet is fired, just a
single bullet, and we had many bullets that were being
fired, crowds run for the exits or Stampede, but not
in this case.
It's very unusual.
This massive crowd of 10s of thousands of people stood
by and didn't move an inch.
In fact, many of them bravely but automatically stood up
looking for where the sniper would be.
They knew immediately it was a sniper and then began
pointing at him.
You can see that if you look at the group
behind me.
That was just a small group compared to what was
in front.
Nobody ran, and by not stampeding, many lives were saved.
But that isn't the reason that they didn't move.
The reason is that they knew I was in very
serious trouble.
They saw it.
They saw me go down.
They saw the blood and thought, actually most did, that
I was dead.
They knew it was a shot to the head.
They saw the blood.
And there's an interesting statistic.
The ears are the bloodiest part.
If something happens with the ears, they bleed more than
any other part of the body for whatever reason.
The doctors told me that.
They said why is there so much blood?
He said it's the ears.
They bleed more.
So we learned something.
But they just, they just this beautiful crowd, they didn't
want to leave me.
They knew I was in trouble.
They didn't want to leave me.
And you can see that love written all over their
faces.
Incredible people.
They're incredible people.
Bullets were flying over us.
Yet I felt serene.
But now the Secret Service agents were putting themselves in
peril.
They were in very dangerous territory.
Bullets were flying right over them, missing them by a
very small amount of inches.
And then it all stopped.
Our Secret Service sniper, from a much greater distance and
with only one bullet used, took the Assassin's life.
Took him out.
I'm not supposed to be here tonight.
Not supposed to be here.
Thank you, but I'm not and I'll tell you I
stand before you in this arena only by the grace
of Almighty God.
In watching the reports over the last few days, many
people say it was a providential moment.
Probably was When I rose surrounded by Secret Service, the
crowd was confused because they thought I was dead.
And there was great, great sorrow.
I could see that on their faces as I looked
out.
They didn't know I was looking out.
They thought it was over.
But I could see it, and I wanted to do
something to let them know I was OK.
I raised my right arm, looked at the thousands and
thousands of people that were breathlessly waiting, and started shouting
fight, fight, fight.
Thank you.
Once my clenched fist went up and it was high
into the air.
You've all seen that.
The crowd realized I was OK and roared with pride
for our country like no crowd I have ever heard
before.
Never heard anything like that for the rest of my
life.
I will be grateful for the love shown by that
giant audience of patriots that stood bravely on that fateful
evening in Pennsylvania.
Tragically, the shooter claimed the life of one of our
fellow Americans, Corey Comparator.
Unbelievable person, everybody tells me, unbelievable and seriously wounded.
Two other great warriors spoke to them today, David Dutch
and James Copenhaver, who great people.
I also spoke to all three families of these tremendous
people.
Our love and prayers are with them and always will
be.
We're never going to forget them.
They came for a great rally.
They were serious Trumpsters.
I want to tell you they were serious Trumpsters and
still are.
But Corey, unfortunately, we have to use the past tense.
He was incredible.
Yeah.
He was a highly respected former Fire Chief, respected by
everybody, was accompanied by his wife Helen, credible woman.
I spoke to her today.
Devastated and two precious daughters.
He lost his life selflessly acting as a human shield
to protect them from flying bullets.
He went right over the top of them and was
hit.
What a fine man he was.
I want to thank the fire department and the family
for sending his helmet, his outfit, and it was just
something and they're going to do something very special when
they get it.
But we did something which cannot match what happened, not
even close.
But I am very proud to say that over the
past few days, we've raised $6.3 million for the families
of David, James and Corey, including from a friend of
mine just called up.
He sent me a check right here.
I just got it, $1 million from Dan Newland.
Thank you, Dan.
And again, when speaking to the family, I told them
I said, well, I'm going to be sending you a
lot of money, but I can't compensate.
They all said the same thing.
You're right, Sir.
We appreciate so much what you're doing, but nothing can
take the place.
In the case of Corey and the other two, by
the way, they were very, very seriously injured.
But now they're doing very well.
They're going to be OK.
They're going to be doing very well.
They're warriors.
So now I ask that we observe a moment of
silence in honor of our friend Corey.
There is no greater love than to lay down one's
life for others.
This is the spirit that forged America in her darkest
hours.
And this is the love that will lead America back
to the summit of human achievement and greatness.
This is what we need.
Despite such a heinous attack, we unite this evening more
determined than ever.
I am more determined than ever.
And so are you.
So is everybody in this?