President Trump said the Secret Service “had a bad day” when a would-be assassin’s bullet came within a quarter-inch of killing him during a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pa. — but insisted that “I have great confidence in these people.”
“Well, it was unforgettable,” Trump, 79, told daughter-in-law Lara Trump in an interview that will air on Fox News Channel’s “My View” Saturday night. “I didn’t know exactly what was going on. I got whacked. There’s no question about that. And fortunately, I got down quickly. People were screaming, and I got down quickly, fortunately, because I think they shot eight bullets.”
The president also praised the Secret Service counter-sniper — “his name is David” — who “did a fantastic job” taking down gunman Thomas Crooks.
“He just, he went about his business. Less than just about four seconds, and that’s when it all stopped and he got him perfectly from a very long distance. So we got a little bit lucky in that regard.”
Late Wednesday, the Secret Service announced six officials had been punished for failings surrounding the Butler shooting, but Trump said he was “satisfied” with the briefings he’d received since his near-death experience.
“They should have had somebody in the building [Crooks shot from], that was a mistake,” he said. “They should have had communications with the local police, they weren’t tied in, and they should have been tied in. So there were mistakes made … But I was satisfied in terms of the bigger plot, the larger plot, I was satisfied.
“And I have great confidence in these people. I know the people. And they’re very talented, very capable. But they had a bad day. And I think they’ll admit that. They had a rough day.”
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