MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — Donald Trump Jr. said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller that it took him nearly an hour and a half to be convinced his father was still alive after he was shot at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump Jr. recalled that after he got the call that his father had been shot, he began searching the internet for footage and information. When he finally got in touch with his father, he described his father as “the baddest guy I've ever seen” and said the conversation was “very heavy.”
“It took me an hour and a half to find out he was alive. I got a call that he'd been shot, but I had no other information, and I couldn't get through to him. I think all his cell phones were shut off. So I spent that time researching on the Internet, trying to figure out what was going on,” Trump Jr. said. “I saw the video, I saw that he was OK, and then I finally got through to him on the phone. And I just said, 'Dude, you're the most amazing guy I've ever seen,' and then I met with him, and we had a very deep conversation, of course.”
Trump Jr. also told the Caller that he and his father worked “for hours” on a speech to the Republican National Convention on Friday, but that after the near-assassination attempt, “those plans were ruined.” Instead, the speech will be “more unifying and very different.” He added that his father knows what he needs to do and is committed to winning the election.
“I couldn't be prouder of him for standing up defiantly in the face of fire, but I think that resolve continues. He knows what he has to do, and he's totally focused on getting it done, which is really amazing,” Trump Jr. explained. “Obviously, it was a very solemn moment for him and his family, and it's a great time to reflect. I worked with him for four hours on his speech on Friday, and it was ruined. He's going to do something very different, something more unified.”
“But he's always going to be a warrior, because that's what we need now. The tenacity he showed that day is what got us to peace deals in the Middle East. It kept our enemies at bay. It stopped them from invading their neighbors. It helped our economy. It allowed us to get trade deals. And that's what America needs now,” Trump Jr. continued.
His father, he said, appreciated some of that moment of relief after being shot. (Related article: The series of miracles that saved Donald Trump's life)
“And it was just kind of a casual atmosphere, and we were opening up… I just said, 'Listen, the most important thing is, how's your hair?'”
“'I'm OK, there's a little bit of blood.' And I think that moment was probably necessary for all of us because my kids and my family were listening to it on speakerphone,” he said. “And it was hard. I was trying to explain to my 10-year-old that his grandfather got shot in the face. That's the conversation I don't want to have.”
