Trump Survives Assassination After Feeling ‘Bullet Ripping’ Through Skin (Worthy News In-depth)
By Worthy News’ Emmitt Barry, Stefan J. Bos, and George Whitten
BUTLER/BUDAPEST/WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who survived an apparent assassination attempt, said he “felt the bullet ripping” through his skin when he was struck in the ear during a shooting at his Pennsylvania rally.
The 78-year-old Republican nominee had been delivering remarks to thousands of supporters when a gunman opened fire on Saturday afternoon. “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he said.
An injured but defiant former U.S. President Donald J. Trump was rushed off stage by security agents after he survived the attack at a campaign rally in the city of Butler in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
Footage carefully monitored by Worthy News showed him physically suffering with his ear and face bleeding but still putting his fist in the air as the crowd shouted, “USA! USA!”
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump sent his condolences to the families of the audience member killed during the attack and another who was “badly” injured.
Trump said “nothing is known” about the shooter, who is also dead. At least some Christians on social media urged prayers for Trump and said “God protected” him.
The Trump campaign later confirmed he is “doing well” and is “grateful to law enforcement” after he survived an apparent assassination attempt.
‘TRUMP GRATEFUL’
“As was communicated earlier this evening, President Trump is doing well and grateful to law enforcement and first responders for their fast action,” the campaign said in a statement monitored by Worthy News.
“President Trump looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47th President of the United States. As our party’s nominee, President Trump will continue to share his vision to Make America Great Again,” they wrote on Truth Social.
It was signed by ‘Donald J. Trump for President 2024’ Senior Advisors Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, and Co-Chairman Lara Trump.
Yet those who witnessed the shootings were still reliving the experience.
Erin Autenreith, a local real estate agent, said she was in the front row at the campaign rally for former President Trump when the gunfire started. “It was just totally quiet,” Autenreith recalled, adding: “No one ran. It was very strange. Everyone was just mostly concerned for the president.”
The Secret Service said the suspected shooter fired from “an elevated position outside of the rally venue.” Trump is “safe and being evaluated,” the agency added.
The attack, by a shooter who law enforcement officials say was then killed by the Secret Service, was the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
BIDEN CONCERNED
President Joe Biden, who briefly addressed the nation, condemned the apparent assassination attempt.
“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence,” Biden said in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. “It’s sick,” Biden said. “It’s sick.”
“It’s one of the reasons we have to unite this country,” the president stressed. “We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”
Biden said he hoped to speak with “Donald” shortly, adding, “Apparently, he’s been doing well.”
Political violence is “just unheard of, it’s just not appropriate, and everybody, everybody must condemn it,” he said.
Asked if he believed the shooting was an assassination attempt against Trump, Biden said he had “an opinion” but wanted to gather more facts before making additional comments.
The president earlier said in a written statement that he was glad to hear that Trump was“safe and doing well.”
PRAYERS SAID
“I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally as we await further information,” Biden said in the statement.
Biden was leaving Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Saturday night to return to Washington, the White House said, changing his plans after the shooting, Worthy News learned.
Biden had been planning to stay at his beach house through the weekend.
Besides Biden, political leaders on both sides of the aisle slammed the violence.
Trump’s presidential predecessors, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, had already shared their relief that Trump appeared not to be seriously injured.
“There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy,” Obama said in a statement on social media platform X. “Although we don’t yet know exactly what happened, we should all be relieved that former President Trump wasn’t seriously hurt and use this moment to recommit ourselves to civility and respect in our politics.”
Bush said that he and former First Lady Laura Bush “are grateful that President Trump is safe following the cowardly attack on his life.”
CONGRESSWOMAN SHOCKED
Former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in a 2011 assassination attempt and has since become a gun control activist, wrote, “Political violence is terrifying. I know.
“I’m holding former president Trump and all those affected by today’s indefensible act of violence in my heart. Political violence is un-American and is never acceptable—never,” Giffords wrote.
Vice President Kamala Harris, in a statement, said that she and second gentleman Doug Emhoff “are relieved that [Trump] is not seriously injured.”
“Violence such as this has no place in our nation. We must all condemn this abhorrent act and do our part to ensure that it does not lead to more violence,” Harris stressed.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a vocal critic of Biden who reportedly recently donated to a pro-Trump super PAC, wrote on X within an hour of the shooting: “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”
World leaders also condemned the shooting, apparently aimed at the man who is likely going to be re-elected as president later this year
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement on X he was “sickened” by the shooting at former President Trump. “It cannot be overstated — political violence is never acceptable. My thoughts are with former President Trump, those at the event, and all Americans,” he added.
HUNGARY IMPACTED
Overseas, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was among the first world leaders to respond online.
“My thoughts and prayers are with President Donald Trump in these dark hours,” Orbán wrote in a short message in English on X.
Orbán, one of Trump’s most vocal European supporters, met him this week. He was heading to Florida after the NATO military alliance summit in Washington to speak with the presumptive Republican nominee.
Hungary recently took over the rotating European Union presidency this month, and immediately after doing so, Orbán visited Kyiv, Moscow, Beijing, Washington, and then Florida.
Orbán has referred to the trip as a “peace mission” but was criticized by Brussels for meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both he and Trump believe there is no military solution to end the war in Ukraine.
(With reporting by the Worthy News Europe Bureau in Budapest, Hungary, and reports from Canada).
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