President Donald Trump told “Fox and Friends” on Monday that he believed God was with him exactly two years ago when a gunman attempted to assassinate him at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I mean, I got lucky. God was watching,” he said, later adding, “You know, God was with me.”
At a 2024 campaign event ahead of the November general election, Trump was delivering remarks to supporters outdoors.
Twenty-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks fired eight rounds from a nearby rooftop, killing Corey Comperatore and wounding two other attendees.
Trump’s right ear was grazed by a bullet. He raised his arm to his ear before Secret Service acted quickly to get him to the ground and eventually off the stage.
As the president, surrounded by Secret Service, was ushered off the stage, with blood dripping down his face, he raised a fist in the air in what has now become an iconic image of the president that was met with “USA” cheers from the crowd.
Crooks was shot and killed by a Secret Service countersniper shortly after he fired shots at Trump with an AR-15-style rifle.
Trump on Monday both praised and criticized Secret Service’s actions that day. He said they “blew it” by not having the location manned and also praised the sniper who killed Crooks and those who jumped into action to cover him on stage.
“They should have had somebody ... standing on that building or at that building or watching that building,” he said. “But with that being said, after that, I mean, I got lucky.”
He said Crooks was a smart person but also was “very tormented.”
Misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories about the shooting quickly spread on social media, with some experts saying it proved how polarized the country was politically at the time.
Conspiracies have swirled about the lack of security and planning in the lead-up to the general election. People wondered why Secret Service hadn’t checked the building that Crooks was on top of or had the location manned during the rally.
Eyewitness reports at the time said Crooks was reportedly on a roof that was outside the immediate perimeter of the event.
Additionally, the safety of candidates participating in outdoor rallies was questioned and the Secret Service’s ability to properly keep then-former President Trump and other top political figures safe.
Comperatore’s family, on the one-year anniversary of his death, spoke out about how they were “furious” that Secret Service let it happen and there were still a lack of answers and accountability for the Secret Service’s actions. Trump reportedly called Comperatore’s wife last year and said a detailed report is being compiled, but it’s unclear if or when it would be released to the public.
Trump on Monday said he rarely puts charts on his right side, but that day, he did. Bullet location shows that had he not turned his head to point to the chart, the assassination attempt would have been successful.
“I looked to the right. I said, ‘If I look to the left, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now,’” he said.
Trump, jokingly, said at it was either the “most violent mosquito in history, or I got shot.”
Still, political violence seems to follow the president.
Shortly after the Butler assassination attempt, another man tried to kill Trump at his golf course in Florida that September. Another man was arrested with firearms near Trump’s October 2024 rally in California.
In April of this year, a gunman, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, stormed passed a Secret Service stop at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and exchanged shots with Secret Service before being apprehended and arrested for attempted assassination of the president. The incident brought into question security at the hotel the gala is held at annually and the line of succession, since so many top leaders were in attendance.
In May, Secret Service exchanged gunfire with an armed man near the White House and the National Mall.
Still, the political violence has not deterred Trump. He hosted an outdoor speech on July Fourth to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. The president spoke on stage to attendees, who underwent TSA-style screening to get in.