(The Hill) — Former President Donald Trump on Sunday reflected on the assassination attempt against him over the weekend, describing it as a “very surreal experience” as he made his way to this week’s Republican convention in Milwaukee.
“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump told reporters from the New York Post and Washington Examiner aboard his plane to Wisconsin, where the Republican National Convention will kick off Monday.
“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle,” he continued, adding the doctor told him he never saw anyone survive when hit by an AR-15.
“By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here,” he said.
The former president also applauded the Secret Service for their response to the shooting, which took place last Saturday at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., roughly 30 miles north of Pittsburgh.
“They did a fantastic job,” he added. “It’s surreal for all of us.”
Trump was on stage for less than 10 minutes when a series of shots was heard and the former president grabbed at his ear and neck area. Secret Service agents stormed the stage and as they brought Trump to his feet, he pumped his fist to the crowd and mouthed the words “fight.”
Photographers at the rally captured the moment of Trump’s fist pump in the air, which was heavily circulated on social media shortly after the incident.
“A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” Trump said in the new interview. “They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
“I just wanted to keep speaking, but I just got shot,” he added.
The shooter, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was fatally shot by authorities moments after he fired from a rooftop in the vicinity of the rally site.
“They took him out with one shot right between the eyes,” the former president said, pointing to the bridge of his nose.
The former president said he was grazed by a bullet, and one spectator, Corey Comperatore, was killed while shielding his family. Two other spectators were injured and Pennsylvania State Police said they were in stable condition as of Sunday.
Trump during the interview said he has given thought to attending Comperatore’s funeral.
The former also said he decided to depart for the convention on Sunday afternoon because, “I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else.”
He is slated to formally accept the GOP nomination on Thursday night and is widely expected to name his running mate during the convention, likely on Monday.
In a separate interview with another Washington Examiner reporter, Trump said he rewrote his speech for this week’s Republican National Convention to focus on national unity.
“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” Trump said.
“Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches” aimed mostly at the policies of President Joe Biden, he added, according to the newspaper. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”
Biden, in a primetime address Sunday night, appealed to Americans to lower the temperature in politics.
“The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down,” he said in remarks in the Oval Office. “This places an added burden on all of us that no matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence.”
