“I'm not supposed to be here tonight,” Donald Trump said in his first speech since he was injured by a 20-year-old gunman at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
He said he heard a “loud whizzing sound” and “felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear”. “I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet,'” he said.
Trump said he moved his hand to his ear and brought it down, and it “was covered with blood, just absolutely blood all over the place. I immediately knew it was very serious, that we were under attack.”
He also recalled how Secret Service agents rushed to the stage as bullets flew, pouncing on top of him to keep him safe.
“The amazing thing is that prior to the shot, if I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin's bullet would have perfectly hit its mark, and I would not be here tonight. We would not be together,” he said.
He also praised his supporters at the rally, saying they turned to look for the sniper instead of breaking into a stampede. “They knew I was in trouble. They didn't want to leave me. And you can see that love written all over their faces. Incredible people,” Trump said.
“I wanted to do something to let him know I was okay. I raised my right arm, looked at the thousands and thousands of people that were breathlessly waiting, and started shouting, ‘Fight, fight, fight!,” he said.
“For the rest of my life, I will be grateful for the love shown by that giant audience of patriots that stood bravely on that fateful evening,” he said.
Trump insisted he would never recount the moment when he nearly lost his life again.
“So many people have asked me, ‘What happened? Tell us what happened, please,” he said. But “you'll never hear it from me a second time, because it's actually too painful to tell.”
