Trump recounted the ordeal with palpable emotion, stating, "I am only here by the grace of Almighty God."
Former President Donald Trump described how he narrowly survived an assassination attempt, addressing a captivated audience at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.
Trump recounted the ordeal with palpable emotion, stating, "I am only here by the grace of Almighty God."
"I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear," he said during a 14-minute account, a thick bandage still covering his ear. "I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet.’”
When he told the Milwaukee crowd that he was "not supposed to be there, “the delegates chanted back, "Yes you are!"
Reuters reports that with photos of a bloodied Trump showing on screens behind him, Trump praised the Secret Service agents who rushed to his side.
He also paid tribute to the volunteer firefighter who was killed - Corey Comperatore - kissing his fire helmet.
During the speech's opening moments, the former president struck an unusually conciliatory tone as he formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination for the November 5 election.
"I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America," he said, in a marked shift in tenor for the typically bellicose former president.
He quickly shifted to familiar criticisms of the Biden administration, claiming it was "destroying" the country.
Trump alleged without proof that his criminal indictments were part of a Democratic plot, forecasted that President Joe Biden would lead to world to "World War Three," and labelled the influx of migrants at the southern border as an "invasion."
"I could stop wars with a telephone call," he said.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Jen O'Malley Dillon, chair of the Biden campaign, criticised Trump for offering only problems and no solutions.
"It was Donald Trump who destroyed our economy, ripped away rights, and failed middle class families," she said. "Now he pursues the presidency with an even more extreme vision for where he wants to take this country."