The last millisecond movement that ‘saved Donald Trump’s life’ is shown in new footage of the assassination attempt.
The former US president was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday (13 July) when a number of gunshots were suddenly heard and Trump ducked to the ground.
When he was then eventually escorted off the stage, the 78-year-old appeared to have blood on his ear and face.
Trump later confirmed on social media he’d been ‘pierced’ by a bullet in the ‘upper part of [his] right ear’, adding that it ‘was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening’.
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But that little speedy movement is also claimed to have been the thing that stopped the shooting from having a more fatal consequence for the presidential candidate.
According to reports, Trump reckons a slight head tilt while he was talking meant the bullet caught his ear, rather than the back of his head.
While giving his speech, he says he turned his head to look at and refer to the illegal immigration statistics that were being displayed on a big screen.
He reportedly told former White House doctor Ronny Jackson: “That chart that I was going over saved my life. The border patrol saved my life.
“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."
And a rally attendee agrees too, as a woman named Vanessa told NBC News that she believed things could have turned out very differently if he hadn’t ‘moved his head’ in that moment.
“We were six rows back, straight in front of him at his podium. We could see him really good,” she said.
“He was talking about his chart and he moved his head to the right to explain where they’re at in the chart.
"But as he moved his head to look at the chart up on the screen that’s when he got grazed in the ear.”
She claimed the incident could have ‘been a lot worse’ if he hadn’t made that tilt ‘at the nick of time’.
And slowed down footage shows the moment his head slightly tilted, changing the bullet's course to catch his ear.
Following the incident on Saturday, the US Secret Service confirmed the alleged gunman is ‘now deceased’ after being ‘neutralised’ by authorities.
It has also been confirmed that one man died in the shooting with two others critically injured.
Speaking to the New York Post, Trump said he was ‘supposed to be dead’.
He added: “The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle.”
Topics: Donald Trump, US News
Jess Battison