- Taking a closer look at immigration statistics might save Donald Trump’s life.
- The former president was nearly assassinated Saturday while protesting in Pennsylvania.
- Trump told his ally that if he didn’t tilt his head, he might be shot, according to The New York Times.
Former President Donald Trump might have lost his life on Saturday if he hadn’t tilted his head to look at a graph of immigration statistics.
Trump nearly died while campaigning in Pennsylvania. A gunman tried to kill the Republican presidential candidate but failed.
The suspect was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper shortly afterward.
“I knew right away something was wrong because I heard the whoosh, the gunshot, and immediately felt the bullet go through my skin,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday.
But things could have been much different, according to Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, who said he spoke to Trump hours after the shooting.
Jackson, who was Trump’s former White House physician, recounted the conversation with The New York Times in a report published Sunday.
“He said, ‘Border patrol saved my life,'” Jackson told the outlet. “He said, ‘If I hadn’t pointed to the map and turned to look at it, the bullet would have hit me in the head.'”
Trump, who was injured in the attack, said Saturday that a bullet had “gone through the top of my right ear.”
Although Trump survived, the bullets were deadly. The Secret Service said one person at the rally was killed in the attack while two others were critically injured.
“I shouldn’t be here, I should be dead,” Trump told the New York Post on Sunday. “Whether it’s by luck or by God, a lot of people say it’s by God, I’m still here.”
Photos from the event showed how close the bullet came to ending Trump’s life, hitting the top of his right ear as it passed over his head.
Secret Service officers rushed to the stage to protect Trump amid gunfire. As he was led off the stage, Trump was seen raising his fists in defiance, his face bloodied, as he shouted: “Fight.”
“A lot of people said it was the most iconic picture they’ve ever seen,” Trump told the outlet. “They were right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to get an iconic picture.“
He added to the Post: “I just wanted to keep talking, but I got shot.”
The bullets wounded two men and killed Corey Comperatore, a protester who died shielding his family from the bullets. Secret Service snipers killed the gunman.
In the Post interview, Trump praised his supporters for remaining calm during the shooting.
“I love them. They’re great people,” he said.
Trump representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside of regular business hours.
