Former President Donald Trump told reporters on his plane to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention that he "was supposed to be dead" after the assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.
Trump, whose right ear was grazed by a bullet just minutes after he walked on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, told the New York Post and Washington Examiner in an interview Sunday that if he hadn't tilted his head slightly to read a chart of notes, he would have been killed.
"By luck or by God, many people are saying it's by God I'm still here," he said, adding: "I'm supposed to be dead. I'm not supposed to be here."
Trump told the news outlets that the attempt on his life made him decide to rewrite the speech he'd prepared for the convention, where he is set to be confirmed as the Republican Party's presidential nominee.
"We had a very tough speech, and I threw it out last night. I said I can't say these things after what I've been through," he said.
Instead, he said, his new speech will focus on trying to unite the country.
"I'd love to achieve unity if you could achieve unity, if that's possible," Trump said. "There are many good people on the other side. … But there are also people who are very divided."
The 78-year-old former president had praise for the Secret Service agents who acted quickly after the shots were fired and rushed him off stage to safety. He said he wanted to keep speaking but was told it was not safe and he needed to go to the hospital.
"It's a very surreal experience, and you never know what you're going to do until a thing like that happens," he said.
Rally attendee Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed, and two others, identified as 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver, were critically wounded.
The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by a Secret Service sniper. Investigators say his motive is still unknown.
The attack has put federal, state and local law enforcement officials on even higher alert heading into the RNC. At the convention, Trump is expected to announce his choice for vice president Monday and will officially accept the nomination in a speech Thursday night.
President Biden has also been calling for unity. In an address from the Oval Office Sunday night, Mr. Biden urged Americans to reject politically motivated violence.
"There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence, ever. Period. No exceptions. We can't allow this violence to become normalized," the president said. "The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It's time to cool it down. We all have a responsibility to do that."
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