“I should be dead”: Trump’s reaction one day after the assassination

A day after the foiled assassination attempt on Donald Trump that left the suspect and a participant dead, the former US president reacted to the shooting, saying that if he had not turned his gaze away from the crowd “in that moment,” he would not be alive.

Recalling the incident in which he suffered an injury to his right ear, Trump told the New York Post, “I shouldn’t be here. I should be dead.”

In another interview with the Washington Examiner, he said, “I rarely take my eyes off the crowd. If I hadn’t done that at that moment, we wouldn’t be talking to each other today, would we?”

Trump also commented on the striking photo, in which he raises his fist and repeatedly calls for “fight.” “A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” Trump said.

“You’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic image,” he added.

Several videos have surfaced online showing Trump tilting his head to the side at the moment of the shooting, injuring his right ear. The Secret Service rushed over and “hit me so hard my shoes fell off, and my shoes are tight,” he told the New York Post.

“They did a fantastic job,” he added.

US President Joe Biden also addressed the nation on Monday, saying: “There is no place for this kind of violence in America, for violence of any kind. Period. No exceptions. We cannot allow this violence to be normalized.”

“The political rhetoric in this country has become very heated. It is time to cool it down,” he added.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) took over the lead of the investigation. “The FBI has assumed the role of lead federal law enforcement agency in the investigation of the incident involving former President Donald Trump that occurred today in Butler, Pennsylvania,” it said.