Former President Donald Trump said his wife, former First Lady Melania Trump, was watching him speak at a rally on television when the attempted assassination occurred in Butler County, Pennsylvania, and that she is still haunted by the moment he almost died and assumed the worst before he stood up after hitting the ground.
Over two weeks after surviving an assassination attempt on July 13, Trump appeared on Fox News on Monday, July 29, and told anchor Laura Ingraham that his wife was still reeling over the close call, which left one attendee dead and two seriously injured. Ingraham asked Trump what the former First Lady’s reaction was when she first “learned about what happened” in Butler.
Trump replied that Melania “was watching” it live and that the story “was all over the place.” He said he asked his wife the same question and that it was hard for her to talk about it. Ingraham then said, “Traumatized.” The former president responded affirmatively with some levity and said it was “okay” because her reaction meant she liked him. “She loves me,” he added, which he said a few times before his tone became serious again.
Trump then said that when he went down onto the ground after a bullet grazed his ear and he saw blood, the former First Lady “thought the worst had happened.” He then mentioned Corey Comperatore, the retired fire chief who perished that day while trying to protect his family from the flying bullets.
The former president described Comperatore as a “hero.” During the Republican National Convention (RNC) last month, Trump paid tribute to his fallen supporter by displaying Comperatore’s uniform and helmet on stage. At one point, Trump approached the uniform, hugged it, and kissed the helmet.
Trump’s wife wasn’t the only one worried about him, of course. For a moment, his entire family and millions throughout the country thought they had lost him. Nearly all of Trump’s family joined him on stage during the RNC.
Kai Trump, the former president’s 17-year-old granddaughter, requested to speak at the event after the harrowing ordeal. She told the audience that her grandfather was a “caring and loving” person, that the media makes him “seem like a different person,” and that she found it “heartbreaking” that someone would try to kill him.