SPECIAL REPORT: Grateful, defiant Trump recounts surviving assassination attempt, re-writing RNC speech

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After surviving a terrifying assassination attempt on Saturday, former President Donald Trump sat for an interview while aboard his plane on Sunday with Michael Goodwin of the New York Post and Salena Zito of the Washington Examiner.

Trump was en route to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the Republican National Convention, and told a reporter he’s not even supposed to be alive.

Grateful, but defiant, Trump, was wearing a bandage over his right ear, said, “I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump said. “I’m supposed to be dead.”

Perched on the roof of a nearby building while Trump was speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, a gunman fired straight at Trump’s head. However, Trump turned his head while speaking at the moment the shot was fired, so instead of hitting Trump in the head, the bullet only struck his right ear.

“The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle,” Trump recalled.

“By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here,” Trump said.

The New York Post wrote:

Trump said that as Secret Service agents led him off stage, he still wanted to continue speaking to supporters, but the agents told him it wasn’t safe and they had to get him to a hospital.

He marveled at how the agents came flying in like “linebackers” as soon as the shooting started, and he unbuttoned his long-sleeve white shirt to show a large bruise on his right forearm.

He also cleared up a mystery about his shoes. On the video of the shooting and aftermath, as the burly agents tried to rush him off the stage for safety, he can be heard saying, “Wait, I want to get my shoes.”

As he explained in the interview, “The agents hit me so hard that my shoes fell off, and my shoes are tight,” he said with a smile.

Trump praised the Secret Service agents for their fast reaction, and for gunning down the shooter, saying, “They took him out with one shot right between the eyes.”

As the agents were trying to get Trump off the stage, Trump continued to try to get a message to the shocked rally audience, raising his fist and saying, “Fight, fight, fight!”  A photo was captured of the iconic moment, showing Trump with his fist raised as blood streamed across his faced.

Reacting to the moment, Trump said, “A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen. 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.”

Trump praised the rally crowd for remaining calm, and said,  “I love them. They are such great people.”

The Washington Examiner reported: Trump said when he stood up and saw the crowd had not moved, he needed to tell them that he and the country were going to be OK. “The energy coming from the people there in that moment, they just stood there; it’s hard to describe what that felt like, but I knew the world was looking. I knew that history would judge this, and I knew I had to let them know we are OK.”

Three other rally attendees were struck by the gunfire aimed at Trump. One man, firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed, and two others were critically injured.  Trump said he would like to attend Comperatore’s funeral, and told his aides, “Get the numbers, I want to go to the hospital and call all the families.”

Trump to re-write RNC acceptance speech:

Trump also said during the interview that the shooting has prompted him to completely re-write his acceptance speech which he will give at the Republican convention on Thursday.

“I had all prepared an extremely tough speech, really good, all about the corrupt, horrible administration… But I threw it away,” Trump said, explaining, “I want to try to unite our country… but I don’t know if that’s possible. People are very divided.”

Trump also told a Washington Examiner reporter, “The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger. Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches… Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”

Trump said he has switched “from planning to excite his voter base to one that demonstrates his belief that the attack on him at a rally in Pennsylvania had changed the election campaign entirely,” the Washington Examiner reported.

“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together. The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” Trump said hopefully.

Many have commented on the iconic photos taken of the moments after the shooting.

Meanwhile, the liberal media literally criticized Trump for the “fight” words he uttered immediately after being shot.

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