The former president said he would have been struck “right in the head” if he hadn’t turned and pointed at an immigration chart, Dr. Ronny Jackson said in an interview.
- Share full article
Donald J. Trump was pointing at an immigration chart when shots rang out on Saturday at his rally in Butler, Pa.
Donald J. Trump marveled to his former White House doctor about his good fortune hours after he was injured during a shooting on Saturday.
“That chart that I was going over saved my life,” Mr. Trump, the Republicans’ presumptive presidential nominee, told the doctor, Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas, by phone a few hours after an assassination attempt.
Mr. Trump was referring to a chart featuring immigration statistics on a screen to his right at his rally in a field in Butler County, Pa. He had turned to point to it and describe what was on the screen when shots rang out.
“He goes, ‘The border patrol saved my life,’” Dr. Jackson recounted in an interview on Sunday. “‘I was going over that border patrol chart.’ He said, ‘If I hadn’t pointed at that chart and turned my head to look at it, that bullet would have hit me right in the head.’”
Dr. Jackson, who wrote on the website X that his nephew had been injured during the assassination attempt, flew overnight to New Jersey from Texas to visit his former patient, who was recovering at his private club in Bedminster. Dr. Jackson recounted Mr. Trump sounding “determined,” adding, “He wasn’t the least bit flustered.”
Others around Mr. Trump described him similarly, saying he had said he was grateful he was safe. He told advisers he wanted to move on with the Republican National Convention this week in Milwaukee, to make no changes to his schedule and to press ahead.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Source: nytimes.com
