Did a poster save his life? "The doctor spoke of a miracle" - Trump gives first interview after assassination attempt
Former US President Donald Trump has expressed his gratitude after the assassination attempt on him. In a first interview, he explains how a poster about migration may have saved his life.
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- Donald Trump was injured in a gun attack at a campaign rally in the US state of Pennsylvania on Saturday.
- After the attempted assassination, the former US President gave his first interview to the New York Post.
- Trump expressed his gratitude and explained that he turned his head slightly away shortly before the shooting because of a poster on the subject of migration.
- The 78-year-old is certain that this movement saved his life.
In an interview with the tabloid "New York Post", he said: "By luck or by God - and many people say it was God's doing - I'm still here". Referring to Saturday's attack, in which he was injured in the ear, he went on to tell the newspaper: "I shouldn't be here. I should be dead. I should be dead."
As Trump described in the joint interview with the "Washington Examiner", a small gesture during the campaign event may have saved his life.
Trump turned slightly away shortly before the shot was fired
He had been pointing at a poster on the subject of migration at the very moment of the attack and had therefore turned his head slightly away. I rarely look away from the crowd. If I hadn't done it at that moment, well, then we wouldn't be talking today, would we?"
Photos taken immediately before the attack show Trump turning slightly to the right and pointing his hand in the direction of the poster. The shooter then hit him in the right ear with a bullet, according to his own account.
"The most incredible thing was that not only did I turn my head, but I did it at exactly the right moment and at exactly the right angle," he added, saying, "The doctor at the hospital said he'd never seen anything like it, he called it a miracle."
According to the New York Post, the Republican was wearing a white bandage over his right ear during the interview. According to the newspaper, his staff did not allow any photos to be taken.
1865: Abraham Lincoln - killed: Abraham Lincoln was the first US president to be killed by assassination. While attending a special performance of the comedy "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., he is shot in the back. The perpetrator is John Wilkes Booth, an actor and fanatical supporter of the Confederates, who had been defeated in the Civil War two days earlier. Booth shoots the president in the head at close range with his single-shot pistol. Lincoln is brought unconscious into a neighboring building and given medical treatment. The next morning, Lincoln is dead. As it turns out, the assassination is part of a conspiracy against several members of the US government. Lincoln's assassin Booth is later shot dead, four co-conspirators, including a woman, are hanged three months later.
Image: Imago/Kena Images
1881: James Garfield - killed: The assassination attempt on American President James Garfield also ends fatally. On July 2, 1881, six months after his inauguration, Garfield was shot at a train station in Washington, D.C.. His murderer, Charles Guiteau, a 39-year-old lawyer and former supporter of his, is said to have been dissatisfied with not getting a job in Garfield's administration. Other sources describe him as mentally disturbed. The American doctor and inventor Alexander Graham Bell tried to find and remove the bullet in Garfield's chest using a specially developed device. In vain: the president died of blood poisoning a few weeks later and Guiteau was executed in June 1882.
Image: Imago/Gemini Collection
1901: William McKinley - killed: US President William McKinley is shot at close range in Buffalo, New York, in September 1901. After a speech at the Pan-American Exposition, he was shaking hands with several people when the anarchist Leon Czolgosz pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger. At first it appears that the injuries are not fatal, but then gangrene sets in and McKinley dies. Assassin Czolgosz is executed in the electric chair.
Image: Imago/Gemini Collection
1912: Theodore Roosevelt - survived: This X-ray shows Roosevelt's chest after the attempted assassination in October 1912. "Teddy", as Roosevelt was also known, is attacked in Milwaukee shortly before an election campaign appearance. By this time, he had already served two terms as president and was running again as an independent candidate. Roosevelt is not seriously injured: a spectacle case and the folded manuscript of his speech muffle the shot. The perpetrator, John Schrank, is arrested and spends the rest of his life in psychiatric hospitals.
Image: Imago/UIG
1933: Franklin D. Roosevelt - survived: Donald Trump speaks under a huge photo of President Franklin Roosevelt during an event to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day. A few weeks before being sworn in as president, Roosevelt is giving a speech from the back of his open car in Miami in February 1933 when five shots are fired. Roosevelt is not hit, but the mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak, who is speaking to Roosevelt, is injured and dies 19 days later. The perpetrator is sentenced to death.
Image: imago images/ZUMA Press
1950: Harry S. Truman - survives: In November 1950, Truman is staying at Blair House opposite the White House when two gunmen break in. Truman is not injured in the assassination attempt, but a White House police officer and one of the assailants are killed in the exchange of gunfire and two other White House police officers are wounded. The shooter, Oscar Collazo, is sentenced to death. In 1952, Truman commutes the sentence to life imprisonment. The photo shows the assassin Oscar Collazo, who is taken to an ambulance seriously injured.
Image: Imago/Granger Historical Picture Archive
1963: John F. Kennedy - killed: The photo shows the Kennedys in Dallas in their open vehicle a few minutes before the fatal shots are fired at the motorcade. Two rifle shots are fired during the assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested as a suspect and killed two days later in police custody by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. More than 2000 books have been written about the assassination - and yet the murder remains a mystery to this day: conspiracy theories were soon circulating, but all the evidence pointed back to a single perpetrator with a thirst for revenge.
Image: imago images/Everett Collection
1968: Robert F. Kennedy - killed: Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the assassinated President John F., is shot dead as a US presidential candidate in 1968 at the age of 42 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles by a 24-year-old Palestinian named Sirhan Sirhan. The seriously injured Kennedy is said to have whispered in the ear of the paramedics who rushed to lift him from the floor onto a stretcher: "Don't lift me." His last words before he lost consciousness. Despite a four-hour operation, his condition remained critical. Kennedy is pronounced dead 26 hours after the assassination.
Image: Imago/Pond5 Images
1972: George C. Wallace - survives: Like Trump, George Wallace is a presidential candidate, but for the Democrats. In 1972, he is shot at a campaign event in Maryland. As a result, he is paralyzed from the waist down. Wallace wins the primaries in Maryland, Michigan, Tennessee and North Carolina and speaks in a wheelchair at the Democratic National Convention in Miami in the summer of 1972. However, he is not nominated as a presidential candidate.
1975: Gerald Ford - survived: Not quite as close as Trump: The photo shows Ford flinching when shot during the assassination attempt by Sara Jane Moore. The bullet, fired from a distance of twelve meters, misses Ford by just twelve centimeters. Ford is doubly lucky: this is the second assassination attempt within three weeks. In the first attempt, Charles Manson supporter Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme points a semi-automatic weapon at him. However, the gun does not go off.
Image: imago images/Everett Collection
1981: Ronald Reagan - survived: President Reagan has just given a speech at the Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. and waves to his fans on his way to the motorcade. Then shots are fired. Seconds after the shots are fired, reporters and Secret Service agents manage to push the assassin to the ground and hold him down. Reagan narrowly escapes with his life, three other people are injured. The criminal proceedings against the assassin Hinckley later end with an acquittal by reason of insanity. Shortly before the emergency operation in hospital, the Republican Reagan is said to have asked the surgical team: "Please tell me you're all Republicans."
Image: Imago/Everett Collection
2005: George W. Bush - survived: George W. Bush visits Georgia in 2005 and takes part in a rally in Tbilisi with the then President Mikhail Saakashvili when a hand grenade is thrown. The grenade missed Bush by about 100 meters and did not explode, although it was live. A red handkerchief wrapped tightly around it is said to have prevented the safety lever from being released. The Georgian assassin Vladimir Arutyunian is sentenced to life imprisonment.
Image: Wikipedia
2011: Barack Obama - survived: A man from Idaho shoots at the American president's official residence from a parked car. The bullets narrowly miss the guards. Unlike their younger daughter Sasha, the incumbent President Barack Obama and his wife were not in the White House at the time. After his arrest, Oscar Ortega-Hernandez admits that he wanted to kill Barack Obama. He is sentenced to 21 years in prison for attempted murder. As with Trump, the assassination attempt led to discussions about the role of the Secret Service, which was also accused of failure at the time.
Image: Imago/ABACAPRESS
2024: Donald Trump - survived: On July 13, a young American carries out an attack on Donald Trump at an election rally in Pennsylvania. Trump survives the attack with minor injuries to his right ear. One spectator is killed and at least two other people are seriously injured. The 20-year-old perpetrator, Thomas Matthew Crooks, is shot dead at the scene by the Secret Service.
Image: AP
1865: Abraham Lincoln - killed: Abraham Lincoln was the first US president to be killed by assassination. While attending a special performance of the comedy "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., he is shot in the back. The perpetrator is John Wilkes Booth, an actor and fanatical supporter of the Confederates, who had been defeated in the Civil War two days earlier. Booth shoots the president in the head at close range with his single-shot pistol. Lincoln is brought unconscious into a neighboring building and given medical treatment. The next morning, Lincoln is dead. As it turns out, the assassination is part of a conspiracy against several members of the US government. Lincoln's assassin Booth is later shot dead, four co-conspirators, including a woman, are hanged three months later.
Image: Imago/Kena Images
1881: James Garfield - killed: The assassination attempt on American President James Garfield also ends fatally. On July 2, 1881, six months after his inauguration, Garfield was shot at a train station in Washington, D.C.. His murderer, Charles Guiteau, a 39-year-old lawyer and former supporter of his, is said to have been dissatisfied with not getting a job in Garfield's administration. Other sources describe him as mentally disturbed. The American doctor and inventor Alexander Graham Bell tried to find and remove the bullet in Garfield's chest using a specially developed device. In vain: the president died of blood poisoning a few weeks later and Guiteau was executed in June 1882.
Image: Imago/Gemini Collection
1901: William McKinley - killed: US President William McKinley is shot at close range in Buffalo, New York, in September 1901. After a speech at the Pan-American Exposition, he was shaking hands with several people when the anarchist Leon Czolgosz pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger. At first it appears that the injuries are not fatal, but then gangrene sets in and McKinley dies. Assassin Czolgosz is executed in the electric chair.
Image: Imago/Gemini Collection
1912: Theodore Roosevelt - survived: This X-ray shows Roosevelt's chest after the attempted assassination in October 1912. "Teddy", as Roosevelt was also known, is attacked in Milwaukee shortly before an election campaign appearance. By this time, he had already served two terms as president and was running again as an independent candidate. Roosevelt is not seriously injured: a spectacle case and the folded manuscript of his speech muffle the shot. The perpetrator, John Schrank, is arrested and spends the rest of his life in psychiatric hospitals.
Image: Imago/UIG
1933: Franklin D. Roosevelt - survived: Donald Trump speaks under a huge photo of President Franklin Roosevelt during an event to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day. A few weeks before being sworn in as president, Roosevelt is giving a speech from the back of his open car in Miami in February 1933 when five shots are fired. Roosevelt is not hit, but the mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak, who is speaking to Roosevelt, is injured and dies 19 days later. The perpetrator is sentenced to death.
Image: imago images/ZUMA Press
1950: Harry S. Truman - survives: In November 1950, Truman is staying at Blair House opposite the White House when two gunmen break in. Truman is not injured in the assassination attempt, but a White House police officer and one of the assailants are killed in the exchange of gunfire and two other White House police officers are wounded. The shooter, Oscar Collazo, is sentenced to death. In 1952, Truman commutes the sentence to life imprisonment. The photo shows the assassin Oscar Collazo, who is taken to an ambulance seriously injured.
Image: Imago/Granger Historical Picture Archive
1963: John F. Kennedy - killed: The photo shows the Kennedys in Dallas in their open vehicle a few minutes before the fatal shots are fired at the motorcade. Two rifle shots are fired during the assassination. Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested as a suspect and killed two days later in police custody by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. More than 2000 books have been written about the assassination - and yet the murder remains a mystery to this day: conspiracy theories were soon circulating, but all the evidence pointed back to a single perpetrator with a thirst for revenge.
Image: imago images/Everett Collection
1968: Robert F. Kennedy - killed: Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the assassinated President John F., is shot dead as a US presidential candidate in 1968 at the age of 42 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles by a 24-year-old Palestinian named Sirhan Sirhan. The seriously injured Kennedy is said to have whispered in the ear of the paramedics who rushed to lift him from the floor onto a stretcher: "Don't lift me." His last words before he lost consciousness. Despite a four-hour operation, his condition remained critical. Kennedy is pronounced dead 26 hours after the assassination.
Image: Imago/Pond5 Images
1972: George C. Wallace - survives: Like Trump, George Wallace is a presidential candidate, but for the Democrats. In 1972, he is shot at a campaign event in Maryland. As a result, he is paralyzed from the waist down. Wallace wins the primaries in Maryland, Michigan, Tennessee and North Carolina and speaks in a wheelchair at the Democratic National Convention in Miami in the summer of 1972. However, he is not nominated as a presidential candidate.
1975: Gerald Ford - survived: Not quite as close as Trump: The photo shows Ford flinching when shot during the assassination attempt by Sara Jane Moore. The bullet, fired from a distance of twelve meters, misses Ford by just twelve centimeters. Ford is doubly lucky: this is the second assassination attempt within three weeks. In the first attempt, Charles Manson supporter Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme points a semi-automatic weapon at him. However, the gun does not go off.
Image: imago images/Everett Collection
1981: Ronald Reagan - survived: President Reagan has just given a speech at the Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. and waves to his fans on his way to the motorcade. Then shots are fired. Seconds after the shots are fired, reporters and Secret Service agents manage to push the assassin to the ground and hold him down. Reagan narrowly escapes with his life, three other people are injured. The criminal proceedings against the assassin Hinckley later end with an acquittal by reason of insanity. Shortly before the emergency operation in hospital, the Republican Reagan is said to have asked the surgical team: "Please tell me you're all Republicans."
Image: Imago/Everett Collection
2005: George W. Bush - survived: George W. Bush visits Georgia in 2005 and takes part in a rally in Tbilisi with the then President Mikhail Saakashvili when a hand grenade is thrown. The grenade missed Bush by about 100 meters and did not explode, although it was live. A red handkerchief wrapped tightly around it is said to have prevented the safety lever from being released. The Georgian assassin Vladimir Arutyunian is sentenced to life imprisonment.
Image: Wikipedia
2011: Barack Obama - survived: A man from Idaho shoots at the American president's official residence from a parked car. The bullets narrowly miss the guards. Unlike their younger daughter Sasha, the incumbent President Barack Obama and his wife were not in the White House at the time. After his arrest, Oscar Ortega-Hernandez admits that he wanted to kill Barack Obama. He is sentenced to 21 years in prison for attempted murder. As with Trump, the assassination attempt led to discussions about the role of the Secret Service, which was also accused of failure at the time.
Image: Imago/ABACAPRESS
2024: Donald Trump - survived: On July 13, a young American carries out an attack on Donald Trump at an election rally in Pennsylvania. Trump survives the attack with minor injuries to his right ear. One spectator is killed and at least two other people are seriously injured. The 20-year-old perpetrator, Thomas Matthew Crooks, is shot dead at the scene by the Secret Service.
Image: AP