Donald Trump Jr. has revealed what occurred in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on his father this past weekend in Pennsylvania.
In an interview with CNN, the Republican candidate’s eldest son said that he was with his children when received a call telling him that his father had been shot.
Trump was wounded in the ear, and one of his supporters was killed, after crazed gunman Thomas Crooks opened fire at a rally in an apparent assassination attempt. Crooks, 20, was then shot dead by Secret Snipers seconds after the shooting began.
On Monday, Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, ahead of his speech on Thursday.
Trump Jr. explained that it took him 90 minutes from the time he received the first call about the shooting to being able to speak with his father. ‘There was some shock, but a lot of resolve, he was joking about it, in a way that only my father can do.’
Earlier, Trump Jr. became embroiled in a heated exchange with an MSNBC reporter on the floor of the convention over the Trump administration’s family separation policy.
In an earlier interview with far-right outlet Newsmax, Trump Jr. elaborated further on his experience surrounding the shooting.
‘I was out with my kids just being a dad and Kim gave me a call and said, “Your dad’s been shot,” but that was literally the only information that we had out there. I didn’t know anything for a while,’ he said.
‘I tried calling everyone, just tried to get my kids home and secure. They weren’t sure if it was a bigger thing.’
‘No one really knew what to expect, and it took me about 90 minutes for me to actually break through to anyone that had any kind of information or any kind of detail. So, as you can imagine, that was sort of an interesting time.’
‘I knew he’d been shot, but I didn’t have any other details or any real information. Couldn’t get ahold of anyone on the team. So it was a pretty rough, somber evening.’
Trump Jr. told Newsmax that his father was in ‘great spirits’ but understood the gravity of the shooting.
‘I just said, you know, man, that fist pump, that fight after getting shot — everyone thinks they’re a tough guy, especially these days with the internet.’
‘But watching that, that was true resolve. And I just told him, I said, “Man, I think you’re the biggest bad*** I’ve ever met.” And I couldn’t be more proud to be your son.” And you know that was sort of the ice breaker.’
‘And finally, everyone was like, OK, like, we can be a family and have some fun. … That was a long 90 minutes,’ he added.
‘But it was actually after that conversation, you sit down, and you start watching the videos and you read the stories and it’s like, that’s when it hits you, that adrenaline dump finally releases. And that was pretty crushing. ‘