Donald Trump has given his first interview since he was the target of an assassination attempt at his rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday night.
In a joint interview with The New York Post and The Washington Examiner on Sunday from his private plane en route to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Trump said: “I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead.”
The presidential candidate was rushed off stage at a rally in Butler, Pa. after he was struck in the ear by a bullet, the U.S. Secret Service said on Saturday. One person in the crowd was killed by the gunfire and two were critically injured. The shooter was killed by Secret Service personnel, authorities said.
In the interview, Trump — who the Post said was wearing a bandage over his ear — called the shooting a “very surreal experience.”
“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle,” he said.
Trump praised the Secret Service and said “they took him out with one shot right between the eyes” referring to the shooter, who was identified by authorities as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pa.
“They did a fantastic job,” he added. “It’s surreal for all of us.”
Photos captured of Trump raising his fist in the air as blood dripped down his cheek began to circulate as events were still unfolding. “A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” Trump told the Post. “They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
He added, “By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God, I’m still here.”
Amid what has already become a heated rematch between Trump and Joe Biden — with many calling for the latter to drop out of the race so that a new Democratic nominee can be chosen — the current president addressed the nation on Sunday, calling for unity.
“We cannot, we must not go down this road in America. The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated,” Biden said. “It’s time to cool it down.”
“Politics must never be a literal battlefield — or god forbid, a killing field,” Biden added.