Trump speaks out on 'being whacked' in assassination attempt after secret service agents suspended over attack

Donald Trump has spoken out on the assassination attempt that almost succeeded in killing him last year.

Just to refresh your memories, on 13 July last year Trump was on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania during the 2024 election campaign when he was interrupted by gunshots.

Suddenly he was down on the ground and appeared to be bleeding from his ear as secret service agents swarmed to his position. As his protective detail ushered him away from his podium, he raised his fist towards the crowd before being bundled into his motorcade.

Secret service snipers returned fire on the shooter, killing him, the would-be assassin was later identified as 20-year-old Pennsylvania resident Thomas Matthew Crooks, a registered Republican voter.

One person in the crowd, a firefighter named Corey Comperatore, was killed by shots fired by Crooks while two others were seriously injured and Trump made it out of there with a bleeding ear, an unwitting head-turn appearing to have saved his life.

Now he's spoken about the experience in an interview that will be broadcast on Fox News tomorrow (12 July).

In a preview clip the US president was being interviewed by his daughter-in-law Lara Trump and talked about what he was thinking in the moment.

He said: "Well, it was unforgettable, I didn’t know exactly what was going on. I got whacked. There’s no question about that.

"Fortunately got down quickly, people were screaming and I got down quickly, I think he shot eight bullets and one got me and one got another one, and one got another one and one killed Corey the firefighter, great guy.

Trump was lucky to have survived (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

"You know we had a tremendous, massive crowd, tens of thousands of people were there and our sniper within less than five seconds was able to get him from a long distance with one shot.

"If he didn't do that you would have had an even worse situation, it was really bad, his name is David, he did a fantastic job. He went about his business in less, just about than four seconds.

"That's when it all stopped and he got him perfectly from a very long distance, we got a little bit lucky in that regard."

Trump did say that the secret service 'had a bad day', saying they made a 'mistake' in not having someone stationed on the building the shooter climbed onto.

Six agents were suspended in the aftermath of the assassination attempt, and the widow of Corey Comperatore said 'our blood is all over their hands' when she spoke almost a year on from the shooting that killed her husband.

A US secret service report admitted there had been 'multiple operational and communications gaps preceded the July 13 attempted assassination'.

A security expert also told LADbible that the security at the Butler rally had been an 'apocalyptic disaster'.