Donald Trump has revealed how surviving an assassination attempt a year ago affected him, recounting the ordeal in a bombshell new interview.
In a conversation with the BBC to mark the anniversary of the attempt on his life, the US President said that he tried to think about it as little as possible.
‘I don’t like to think about if it did change me,’ he said, before adding that the moment ‘could be life-changing’.
He said he agreed to the interview with BBC North America Correspondent Gary O’Donoghue, who had been at the campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, because he felt at the time that he had covered the story ‘fairly’.
Detailing how events played out, Trump said: ‘It happened very quickly and I’m not sure I had any conscious thought other than to say that I had to let the people know, because I knew they must’ve thought that it was a disaster.
‘I could tell by the dead silence and everything, we had 55,000 people, and it was dead silence so I assumed that they expected the worst. And so I had to let them know I was okay so I had to get up as quick as possible.
‘They had a stretcher ready to go, I said ‘no thank you.”
The US leader also used the wide-ranging phone call interview to lash out at Vladimir Putin, warning that while he is not yet ‘done’ with the Russian president, he is ‘disappointed’ and does not trust him.
Discussing peace talks with Russia over Ukraine, he said: ‘I thought I had a deal four times.’
When asked whether he had therefore had enough of Putin, he replied: ‘I’m not done with him, but I’m disappointed with him.
‘We had a deal four times and then you go home and you see he’s attacked a nursing home or something or Kyiv, and you say ‘what the hell was that all about’.’
Asked whether he trusted Putin, Trump took a long pause before replying: ‘I trust almost nobody, to be honest with you.’
Pressed on how he would get Putin to ‘stop the bloodshed’ in Ukraine, he insisted: ‘We’re working it.’
But he then vented yet more frustration with the Russian leader: ‘We’ll have a great conversation. I’ll say: ‘That’s good, I’ll think we’re close to getting it done,’ and then he’ll knock down a building in Kyiv.’
Ahead of his trip to London to meet Sir Keir Starmer in July, and state visit to the UK in September, Trump also revealed his feelings about the Prime Minister and the King.
He began with a criticism of how Brexit was handled, but suggested the PM was dealing with it.
‘I think it’s been on the sloppy side, but I think it’s getting straightened out,’ he said.
‘I really like the Prime Minister a lot, even though he’s a liberal. He did a good trade deal with us which a lot of countries haven’t been able to do.
Regarding the state visit, which is planned for a few weeks later, he said: ‘I want to have a good time and respect King Charles because he’s a great gentleman.’
Trump has appeared increasingly impatient with Putin over the Russian dictator’s refusal to come to the table and talk about a ceasefire.
The US leader yesterday threatened to slap 100 percent tariffs on Russia in 50 days if a deal to end the war isn’t reached.
‘We are very, very unhappy with [Russia], and we’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent,’ he said in the Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
‘I’m disappointed in President Putin. I thought we would’ve had a deal two months ago,’ he added about the proposed peace deal.
Trump also explained he speaks to the Russian leader often, before sharing that it First Lady Melania Trump pointing out Putin’s continued bombing of Ukraine.
‘My conversations with him are always very pleasant. I say, isn’t that very lovely conversation? And then the missiles go off that night, I go home, I tell the first lady… I spoke with Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation. She [says]: ‘Oh, really, another city was just hit,” Trump said.
He added of Putin: ‘I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy.’
