WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump said he strongly feels he wasn’t seriously hurt — or killed — when a lone gunman opened fire at him during a rally in July because there was a higher power protecting him.
A bullet hit his ear, just missing his head.
“I believe my life was saved that day in Butler for a very good reason,” Trump said during a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. “I was saved by God to make America great again. I believe that.”
The Republican members of Congress stood and applauded Trump, with the president acknowledging he turned his head at just the right moment to avoid a fatal shot.
“My life was saved by a fraction of an inch, but some were not so lucky,” he said.
During the shooting, 50-year-old retired fire chief Corey Comperatore was hit by a bullet while shielding his wife and their daughters. He was later pronounced dead, authorities said.
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“When the sounds of gunshots pierced the air — it was a horrible sound — Corey knew instantly what it was and what to do,” Trump said. “He threw himself on top of his wife and daughters and shielded them from the bullets with his own body. Corey was hit really hard. You know the story from there. He sacrificed his life to save theirs.”
Trump spoke to Comperatore’s wife, Helen, as well as their daughter’s Allison and Kaylee, who attended the president’s address. He told them Comperatore died a hero.
“Corey is looking down on his three beautiful ladies right now and he is cheering you on,” Trump assured them. “He loves you. He is cheering you on. Corey was taken from us much too soon, but his destiny was to leave us with a shining example of the selfless devotion of a true American patriot. it was love like Corey’s that built our country and it is love like Corey’s that is going to make our country more majestic than ever before.”
That’s when Trump praised God for having his life.
It’s not the first time Trump he made such comments.
Soon after the shooting, which occurred July 13 in Butler, Penn., he said it was miraculous he turned his head at just the right moment to avoid being assassinated.
“For those of you who don’t believe in God, I believe that there’s only one reason that could have happened because the chances were so, so small,” Trump said to a crowd of followers at a campaign event in Montana about a month after the shooting.
“By the way, being president is a dangerous profession, you know?” he added. “This is a very dangerous profession. This is not the safest profession out there.”
During the shooting, police said two other people were also seriously hurt. The suspected shooter, who authorities identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot and killed at the scene by a Secret Service counter sniper.
