DONALD Trump said “I’m supposed to be dead” in his first interview since a gunman tried to assassinate him on Saturday.
The former President dubbed his lucky escape a “miracle” and revealed why moving his head at a certain moment saved his life.
Trump was shot in the ear at a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when a 20-year-old shooter opened fire from a roof nearby.
He sprayed a barrage of bullets into the crowd and towards the podium where Trump stood, killing someone in the audience and seriously wounding two more.
Incredible footage from the scene showed the former President clutch his ear and fall to the ground as chaos erupted around him.
A swarm of Secret Service agents then quickly bundled him to safety as snipers shot dead the shooter on site.
On Sunday evening, bandaged up and flying by private jet to the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Trump gave his first in-depth interview since the attempt on his life.
He told the New York Post: “I’m supposed to be dead.
“I rarely look away from the crowd. Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?”
Trump had turned his head to his right during his rally speech just after 6pm on Saturday, when bullets from the shooter’s AR-15 ONLY 130 metres away, grazed the side of his face.
An already iconic photograph shows him standing up just moments later, punching the air as blood runs down his face.
What we know so far:
The bullet had ripped through and torn a small piece of his ear clean off.
He said yesterday: “The most incredible thing was that I happened to not only turn but to turn at the exact right time and in just the right amount.
The Republican favourite believes he survived “by luck or by God”.
Speaking of the photos of him mouthing “Fight, Fight, Fight!” as he punches the air, Trump said: “A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen.
“They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
The ex-President praised his Secret Service agents who acted like “linebackers”, tackling him to the ground so hard he showed his interviewer a bruise left on his arm.
As they dragged him to the safety of a car at the rally, the former President could be heard saying “Wait, I want to get my shoes”.
He revealed in the interview that the force of his security knocking him to the deck and pulled them right off.
“The agents hit me so hard that my shoes fell off, and my shoes are tight,” Trump told the outlet with a smile.
He added: “The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle.
Medical staff at the hospital Trump was taken to apparently told him they’ve never seen anyone survive a hit from an AR-15.
The former President said of the shooter – Thomas Matthew Crooks – that snipers on site “took him out with one shot right between the eyes”.
He added: “They did a fantastic job… “It’s surreal for all of us.”
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was identified as the gunman who opened fire during a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, killing one person and injuring three others including the former president.
