Trump ‘got right back up’ after being shot at rally: Salena Zito

The Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito said former President Donald Trump “got right back up” after shots were fired at a Pennsylvania rally, where she witnessed the events as they happened in person.

Trump was bleeding from the side of his head but was able to raise his fist to the crowd as Secret Service agents escorted him off the stage. Zito, who attended the rally, said Trump was in “great spirits” prior to the reported gunfire and that she heard something “from the left-hand side,” with the former president taking cover right after.

“What I could hear him say was ‘let me get my shoes,’” Zito said on Fox News Democracy 2024, giving a slight laugh. “And he got right back up, I could see him raise his fist, and then the Secret Service and the law enforcement sort of surrounded him. It wasn’t to hold him up, but it was to protect him because no one knew where the shooter was at that point, to walk him off of the stage and into his motorcade.”

Zito also said she was unable to see who had caused the reported gunshots, as “the sun was in my eye.” She added that she knew “immediately” that it was a gun making the noise, as she is a gun owner herself and there is “no doubt about it.”

Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said the former president was “being checked out at a local medical facility,” and that he was “fine” in the wake of the event. Trump later confirmed he was shot in the ear.

The Secret Service has confirmed that the suspected shooter and one person at the rally had died.

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Numerous lawmakers have since issued their relief that Trump was not seriously injured at the rally, including gun violence survivor Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA). Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), an ardent supporter of the former president, has blamed “the Democrats and the media” for the historic event, adding that both are responsible for “every drop of blood spilled today.”

President Joe Biden condemned the shooting, saying there is “no place in America for this kind of violence.” His campaign has also pulled all its ads in the aftermath.