Trump Credits Chart for Saving His Life, His Former White House Doctor Says

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By The New York Times

Published 6 months ago on

July 17, 2024

An immigration chart displayed at former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, July 13, 2024. The former president said he would have been struck “right in the head” if he hadn’t turned and pointed at an immigration chart, Dr. Ronny Jackson, his former White House doctor, said in an interview. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)

Donald Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a rally, crediting a border patrol chart for saving him.
Trump remained determined and unfazed after the incident, continuing with his schedule, including plans for the Republican National Convention.
Trump's family expressed relief and resolve, affirming their commitment to their roles and goals unchanged despite the event.

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Donald Trump marveled to his former White House doctor about his good fortune hours after he was injured during a shooting Saturday.

Trump Credits the Chart

“That chart that I was going over saved my life,” Trump, the Republicans’ presumptive presidential nominee, told the doctor, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, by phone a few hours after an assassination attempt.

Trump was referring to a chart featuring immigration statistics on a screen to his right at his rally in a field in Butler County, Pennsylvania. He had turned to point to it and describe what was on the screen when shots rang out.

New video shows trajectory of bullet as Trump turned his head. pic.twitter.com/eoetavYicC

— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) July 16, 2024

“He goes, ‘The border patrol saved my life,’” Jackson recounted in an interview Sunday. “‘I was going over that border patrol chart.’ He said, ‘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.’”

Jackson, who wrote on the website X that his nephew had been injured during the assassination attempt, flew overnight to New Jersey from Texas to visit his former patient, who was recovering at his private club in Bedminster. Jackson recounted Trump sounding “determined,” adding, “He wasn’t the least bit flustered.”

Others around Trump described him similarly, saying he had said he was grateful he was safe. He told advisers he wanted to move on with the Republican National Convention this week in Milwaukee, to make no changes to his schedule and to press ahead.

On Saturday for the rally, Trump was traveling with a slimmed-down group of advisers. The aides who were with Trump at the hospital after he was shot were identified by people with knowledge of the situation. They included Susie Wiles, his top political adviser; Dan Scavino, his social media adviser; Steven Cheung, his communications director; and Walt Nauta, his “body man” who is also his co-defendant in the federal classified documents case in Florida.

Trump Speaks with Biden

Trump had a brief call with President Joe Biden late Saturday night, according to the White House. One person briefed on the call described it as cordial and respectful, although it wasn’t clear what was said.

They spoke sometime before Trump’s plane arrived at Newark, New Jersey, after midnight.

On Sunday, Republican officials were contemplating possible changes to convention speeches, and it remains to be seen how much the assassination attempt is woven into the presentations in Milwaukee. Underscoring efforts at party unity, Trump’s former rival Nikki Haley is now expected to speak at the convention, a move reported earlier by Fox News.

On an all-staff call just after 2 p.m. Sunday, Wiles told the team that the day was “shattering” but expressed gratitude to the security detail and prayers for the supporters who were injured.

“He’s in really good spirits — that probably wouldn’t surprise anybody,” Wiles said of Trump, according to a person on the call. She added that he is “getting ready to go to the convention in Milwaukee.”

Lara Trump Thanks People for Support at RNC

Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee, thanked people for their support and added, “This changes absolutely nothing in terms of our jobs and our goals.”

The former president’s family watched the events unfold like much of America: from afar. His three eldest children, who were fearful about Trump’s safety in the face of a wave of threats early on in his first presidential campaign in 2015, posted messages on social media.

Donald Trump Jr. was spending time with his children when he suddenly started getting messages that something had happened, according to a person close to the family. In a statement a few hours after the shooting, Trump Jr. said he had just spoken with his father by phone “and he is in great spirits. He will never stop fighting to save America.”

Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s middle son, posted on X, “This is the fighter America needs!” Ivanka Trump, his older daughter, posted on Instagram that she believed her late mother, Ivana, was watching over her father during the assassination attempt.

Melania Trump was in the New York area when the shooting happened. She was later with her husband at Bedminster, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

“When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realized my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change,” she said in a statement Sunday.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan/Eric Lee
c.2024 The New York Times Company