Donald Trump has given his first interview since he was the target of a failed assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.
The interview provided new insights into the former president’s experiences and his “miraculous” survival after he was shot by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon (local time).
Interviewed by a New York Post journalist on board his private jet, Trump described the weekend’s events as a “very surreal experience.”
“The doctor at the hospital said he had never seen anything like it, he called it a miracle,” Trump, wearing a white bandage over his right ear, told the Post.
“I shouldn’t be here. I should be dead.”
The presumptive Republican nominee was at his final rally before the opening of the Republican National Convention on Monday when gunshots were apparently heard, after which Trump could be seen reaching for his right ear and taking cover behind the podium.
He was seen being escorted to a car by security forces. His face appeared to be covered in blood.
Trump had previously published a post on his social media account Truth Social thanking the Secret Service and law enforcement.
“The officers beat me so hard that my shoes fell off, and my shoes are tight,” he said.
Through the microphones at the podium, security guards began to ask Trump to lie down before they could help him up again.
Trump can be heard saying, “Let me get my shoes,” before being seen being escorted to a waiting car.
Two people were killed at the rally, including the shooter, and two others were injured. Trump told reporters he was still here “by luck or by God.”