Donald Trump Jr. has revealed what happened after the attempted assassination of his father in Pennsylvania last weekend.
In an unusually heartfelt interview with CNN, the Republican candidate’s eldest son said he was with his children when he got a call telling him 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 on 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 Party convention in Milwaukee, ahead of his speech on Thursday.
Trump Jr. explained that it took him 90 minutes from the time he got the first call about the shooting until he was able to talk to his father. “There was some shock, but there was also a lot of determination, and he joked about it in a way that only my father can.”
Donald Trump Jr. had an unusually cordial interview with CNN during the Republican National Convention
Earlier, Trump Jr. got into a heated exchange with an MSNBC reporter on the convention floor over the The Trump administration’s policy on family separation.
In an earlier interview with a far-right newspaper Newsmax, Trump Jr. elaborated on his experiences surrounding the shooting.
“I was out with my kids just being a dad and Kim called me and said, ‘Your dad got shot,’ but that was literally the only information we had. I didn’t know anything for a while,” he said.
“I called everyone, I tried to get my kids home and keep them safe. They weren’t sure if it was something bigger.”
“Nobody really knew what to expect, and it took about 90 minutes before I actually got through to someone who had information or details. So, as you can imagine, that was an interesting time.”
“I knew he had been shot, but I had no other details or real information. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone on the team. So it was a pretty rough, somber night.”
Donald Trump was greeted by family and close allies on Monday night during a long and jolly entrance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Trump Jr. told Newsmax that his father was “in good spirits” but that he understood the seriousness of the shooting.
“I was just saying, you know, man, that fist pump, that fight after you get shot — everybody thinks he’s a tough guy, especially these days with the Internet.”
“But when I saw that, it was really resolute. And I just said to him, I said, ‘Man, I think you’re the biggest bad guy I’ve ever met.’ And I couldn’t be more proud to be your son.” And you know, that was kind of an icebreaker.
“And finally everyone was like, ‘OK, we can be a family and have fun. … That was a long 90 minutes,'” he added.
“But it was actually after that conversation, you sit down, you start watching the videos and you read the stories and it’s like, that’s when it hits you, that adrenaline rush finally lets go. And that was pretty devastating.”