Donald Trump has revealed what US President Joe Biden told him shortly after the Republican presidential nominee survived an assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania campaign rally.
Trump narrowly escaped death on July 13 when he turned his head to look at a chart put up on a screen just as 20-year-old Thomas Crooks opened fire during the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania
“He said, ‘You’re lucky you turned to the right,’” Trump, 78, told Fox News host Jesse Watters of his phone call with the 81-year-old president.
The former president characterized his chat with Biden as a ”nice conversation.”
In the interview, which was recorded on Saturday but aired Monday, July 22 Trump also revealed that he refused orders to be carried off stage on a stretcher after the sniper’s bullet grazed his ear.
“They wanted to put me on a stretcher,” Trump said. “They had a stretcher, and they wanted to put me on a stretcher. And I said, ‘I’m not going on a stretcher.’”
The Secret Service agents who piled on top of him moments after the shots rang out initially believed he was hit in the abdomen, Trump said.
“I just felt it was the ear,” the 45th president said of his refusal to be placed on a stretcher, but he acknowledged “there was a lot of blood” that may have alarmed the agents.
Trump said his refusal led to a “little argument” while the agents were “lying on top of me.”
“I said, ‘I’m telling you, I’m OK. I’m fine. I’m going to get up. I want to get up. I’m not going to be taken out on a stretcher,’” he said.
As for his current condition, the GOP nominee said his right ear is “good” and “getting much better”
“We’re getting down to the small bandages, but it was a nasty one,” Trump said of his wound.
During his interview, Trump also suggested that an investigation should be launched to determine whether the White House tried to cover up Biden’s physical and mental decline.
“I think somebody has to look at it,” Trump argued. “Look, you had people that lied to the American public. And I tell you what, you ought to take a look at his doctors because his doctors keep giving him this wonderful report.”
“I’m not a doctor, but I saw [Biden] the other day,” the former president added. “He was unable to get up the children’s stairs going into Air Force One.”
“His doctor says – I know all about his doctor, by the way – his doctor says he’s in good health. He’s not in good health. I don’t think he’s in good health,” Trump added, apparently referring to White House physician Dr Kevin O’Connor.
Trump also revealed that he met with embattled Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle following the assassination attempt.
“She came to see me, actually,” Trump said.
“She was very nice, I thought. But, you know, somebody should have made sure there was nobody on that roof,” the former president added.
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, seated next to Trump during the interview, told Watters that he was playing mini-golf with his children and hoping to get a call from the former president about the VP slot when he heard about the rally shooting.
“I told my kids, I said, ‘We gotta get out of here. The president’s been shot.’” And of course, we didn’t know if the president was OK or not at that point, and my son said, ‘Daddy, is it the president who’s your friend or the president you don’t like?’ And I said, ‘It’s the president who’s my friend.’ And he said, ‘OK, I’m sorry about that.’ And it was a very sweet moment,” Vance said.
“We were all just so grateful the president was OK,” Vance added, noting that it is a “testament to the movement how calmly” rally-goers reacted to the shooting and refrained from stampeding during the chaotic moment.