Trump recounts assassination attempt during nomination acceptance speech

YEREVAN, JULY 19, ARMENPRESS. Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday pleaded for national unity as he formally accepted the GOP presidential nomination during the culminating moment of the 2024 Republican National Convention, where he also recounted surviving the assassination attempt five days before, Fox News reports.

"I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America. The discord and division in our society must be healed. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart," Trump said.

The shooting, at Trump's rally Saturday in western Pennsylvania where one spectator was killed, along with the gunman, instantly impacted the tone and message of the convention, and as Trump has acknowledged, altered his convention address, the report adds.

The former president and GOP presidential nominee also expressed his gratitude for the support he received following the assassination attempt on July 13. He said that "so many people have asked me what happened, and therefore, I’ll tell you what happened."

"You’ll never hear it from me a second time, because it’s too painful to tell," he said.

Trump said he turned his head slightly to view a chart about immigration projected on a teleprompter screen.

"In order to see the chart, I started to - like this - turn to my right, and was ready to begin a little bit further turn, which I’m very lucky I didn’t do, when I 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.'"

Trump praised the "very brave Secret Service agents who 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," Trump said. "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 with you tonight."
"I am not supposed to be here tonight. I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God. Many people say it was a providential moment," Trump said.

Trump also pointed to the helmet and firefighting jacket of Corey Comperatore, the former fire chief killed at the rally, which were placed on the stage by the former president. And he asked the audience to observe a moment of silence, Fox News adds. He said he has raised more than $6 million in recent days for Comperatore's family, and the families of the two men who were seriously wounded in the shooting.

The former president also took time to thank his wife, former first lady Melania Trump for joining him on his journey.