President Donald Trump asserted that he was “saved by God to Make America Great Again” when he miraculously survived the assassination attempt at his Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally during his Tuesday night joint address to Congress.
While speaking on Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher who was held in a Russian prison for over three years for trying to enter the country with a personal amount of medical cannabis until his release due to diplomatic negotiations by the president, Trump mentioned that he is from Butler:
“I just happened to go there last July 13 for a rally… that was not pleasant,” he said, receiving some chuckles from Congress.
Recalling how he spoke with Fogel’s mother before walking onto the stage in Butler on that fateful day, Trump said, “I told her I would not forget what she said about her son, and I never did, did I?”
“Less than ten minutes later, at that same rally, gunfire rang out, and a sick and deranged assassin unloaded eight bullets from his sniper’s perch into a crowd of many thousands of people,” the president continued, recounting the horrific moment when 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire.
“My life was saved by a fraction of an inch, but some were not so lucky,” the Trump explained, before recognizing the heroic actions of Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Comperatore, who lost his life while shielding his family from the bullets shooting into the crowd at the rally:
Corey Comperatore was a firefighter, a veteran, a Christian, a husband, a devoted father, and above all, a protector. When the sound of gunshots pierced the air, it was a horrible sound, Corey knew instantly what it was and what to do. He threw himself on top of his wife and daughters, and shielded them from the bullets with his own body. Corey was hit really hard. You know the story from there — he sacrificed his life to save theirs. Two others — very fine people — were also seriously hit, but thankfully, with the help of two great country doctors, we thought they were gone and they were saved. So those doctors had great talent.
Trump then introduced Corey’s wife and high school sweetheart, Helen Comperatore, and adult daughters Allyson and Kaylee Comperator, who received applause from members of the audience.
“To Helen, Allyson, and Kaylee, Corey is looking down on his three beautiful ladies right now. And he is cheering you on; he loves you. He is cheering you on,” the president told the grieving family. “Corey was taken from us much too soon, but his destiny was to leave us all with a shining example of the selfless devotion of a true American patriot. It was love like Corey’s that built our country, and it’s love like Corey’s that is going to make our country more majestic than ever before.”
As he closed out the portion of his speech about the assassination attempt, Trump stated, “I believe that my life was saved that day in Butler for a very good reason. I was saved by God to Make America Great Again, I believe that.”
The joint address was Trump’s first time speaking directly to Congress since reentering office in January.
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