‘I had God on my side’: Trump speaks about assassination attempt – for first and last time

Donald Trump has told supporters he had “God on his side” in his first speech since narrowly surviving surviving an assassination attempt.

Appearing on stage at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the party’s presidential nominee recounted details of the attack which saw him shot in the ear at a Pennsylvania rally last Saturday.

The 78-year-old former president said the bullet “came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life”.

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He said: “I’ll tell you what happened, and you’ll never hear it from me a second time, because it’s too painful.”

He told the rapt audience: “It was a warm, beautiful day in the early evening in Butler Township in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

“Behind me and to the right was a large screen that was displaying a chart of border crossings under my leadership,” he said.

“In order to see the chart, I started to turn to my right, and was ready to begin a further turn, which I’m lucky I didn’t, when I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me, 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, and my hand was covered with blood.

“I immediately knew it was very serious, that we were under attack, and in one movement, proceeded to drop to the ground.

“Bullets continued to fly as very brave Secret Service agents rushed to the stage and pounced on top of me for protection.

“There was blood pouring everywhere, and yet, in a certain way I felt very safe because I had God on my side.

“The amazing thing is that prior to the shot, if I had not moved my head at the very last instant, the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark, and I would not be here tonight.”

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Mr Trump went on to pay tribute to Corey Comperatore, who was killed by the gunman on Saturday, while he also mentioned David Dutch and James Copenhaver, who were “very seriously injured” but are doing “very well”.

Biden’s ‘incompetent leadership’

The former president said he is “more determined than ever” to “deliver a government that serves the American people”.

He branded Joe Biden’s administration an “incompetent leadership” which has turned America into “a nation in decline” with an “inflation crisis” and “illegal immigration crisis”.

Mr Trump also said international crises like the wars in Ukraine and Gaza wouldn’t have happened if he was president.

“Together we will restore vision, strength, competence and we are going to have a thing called common sense making most of our decisions actually,” the Republican nominee said.

Mr Trump thanked his “amazing wife” Melania, who was in the audience, as well as his children and grandchildren.