By Associated Press - Thursday, July 18, 2024

The crowd at the Republican National Convention is responding to former President Donald Trump’s reenactment of the shooting Saturday in stunned silence, only breaking to gasp at moments of explicit detail.

Prior to the shot fired at Trump, the former president was talking about immigration and “in order to see the chart” his campaign had prepared, he said, he turned to his right “and was ready to begin.”

But instead, he “felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear.”

“I said to myself, ‘Wow, what was that?’” he said. “It can only be a bullet.”

Trump said he raised his hand to his ear and saw that it was “covered with blood.”

“I immediately knew that it was very serious, that we were under attack,” he said, and proceeded to drop to the ground as bullets continued to fly.

He said brave Secret Service agents rushed to the stage “and pounded on top of me so that I would be protected.”

“In a certain way, I felt very safe because I had God on my side,” he said.

If he hadn’t turned his head, he said, “I would be here tonight.”

Images of Trump from the assassination attempt are being displayed on screens behind him, including pictures of him lying down on the stage with Secret Service agents piled on top of him.

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