WASHINGTON – Speaking ahead of the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, President Donald Trump credited God with saving him from being assassinated in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.
Trump spoke about the nearly fatal shooting and the strengthening of his faith thereafter while addressing members of Congress in the United States Capitol before the breakfast. He said God had him turn his head to the right during the July 13 rally to look at the immigration chart, which ultimately saved him.
The National Prayer Breakfast audience cheers as President Trump talks about how surviving the Butler assassination attempt strengthened his faith in God. pic.twitter.com/KyANx2Q5FP
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“It was almost as though a deer bolted. You know, they say the only way you miss when you’re a good shot is if it bolts; I bolted,” Trump said.
“I turned to the right to look at the chart, and I said, ‘Wow. What was that? What was that?’ So, you never know, but God did that. I mean, it had to be,” he added.
The bullet struck Trump in the ear, narrowly missing his skull, while one of Thomas Matthew Crooks’s shots fatally struck firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was sitting in the stands with his family.
“Honestly, it changed … something in me,” Trump said. “I feel even stronger. I believed in God, but I feel much more strongly about it; something happened.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "[Butler] changed something in me... I feel even stronger. I believed in God, but I feel much more strongly about it." pic.twitter.com/1c7dSassJe
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Trump noted that the faith of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has grown as well following the fateful day.
“He said, ‘There had to be somebody that saved you, and I think I know who it is,’ and he looked up, and I said, ‘Whoa, Don, you’ve come a long way,'” Trump said to laughs, adding that his son is a “good guy.”
At the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just days after the first attempt on Trump’s life, many attendees credited divine providence for protecting him.
Detroit pastor Lorenzo Sewell, who delivered a prayer at Trump’s inauguration last month, told Breitbart News at the RNC, “We saw the hand of the good Lord protect him.”
WATCH Pastor Lorenzo Sewell’s prayer for Donald Trump at his inauguration:
