EXCLUSIVE — Republican National Committee Co-Chairwoman Lara Trump recounted watching former President Donald Trump being shot during an assassination attempt last weekend in Butler, Pennsylvania, on television in real-time.
Lara Trump described those "terrifying" moments as feeling "like an eternity" after the former president's ear was grazed by a bullet minutes into his remarks.
"We had the rally on at our house," Lara Trump told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday before she addresses the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "Actually, my kids were in the room with us, and I looked down, and then I looked back up, and my father-in-law was on the ground. And I knew, like instinctively as a mom, I've got to get my kids out of here. This is their grandfather."
Trump, who conveyed her condolences to the family of Corey Comperatore, who died Saturday during the shooting, shared that it was "a little emotional, honestly, for all of us to see him on that stage" and "to sit up there with him" during the first night of the convention. The former president spent time in Fiserv Forum on Monday after announcing Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his vice presidential nominee.
"A millimeter's difference and we would be having a very different conversation, and I think he knows that too," Lara Trump said. "I don't think you go through something like that without it having an impact, and really, I think it's changing you ... He has seen maybe something different in his role and how he can impact the country in the world right now, and I think he's taking that very seriously."
As Democrats contend with how to criticize Donald Trump on the campaign trail, his daughter-in-law defended his decision to stop his Secret Service detail from immediately rushing him to safety so he could encourage the crowd to "fight, fight, fight." Delegates have since chanted those words on the convention's floor.
"For him to stand up and put his fist in the air and say that was so much bigger than that rally or people who were tuning in," she said. "It was really about this country and showing America he was ok, and really giving a message to the rest of the world that, in some ways, I see it as really he's kind of the personification of America. And yes, we get knocked down. Yes, we have hard times. We always get back up, we always fight, we always rise to the occasion, and a lot of people are trying to criticize him for that, but I think, gosh, do we need a fighter right now."
As the incident is being investigated, Lara Trump underscored that the Secret Service retains her and her family's confidence, adding "they were ready to give their lives for this man" last weekend.
"For those of us who are close to him, I've always had a concern that something like this would happen if I'm being really honest," Lara Trump said. "There have been a lot of attempts to, you know, take him out of this race, and you have to say to yourself, 'Man, what else could possibly be tried at this point?' And unfortunately, we saw that on Saturday."
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"Do I have questions about, you know, what happened? Obviously, I do," she continued. "I think a lot of people do, and I think we'll get those answers."
Lara Trump is scheduled to speak at the convention Tuesday evening.
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