Salena Zito reflects on ‘super excited’ atmosphere at Trump rally before shooting

The Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito reflected on the excitement present during former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, which was cut short due to a shooting that injured him.

The shooting left Trump injured in his right ear, prompting Secret Service agents to quickly escort him to his motorcade, though not before the former president raised his fist to the crowd to signal he was OK.

Zito, who was attending the rally and was set to interview Trump afterward, noted how everyone was “very excited” to see the presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican Party, despite spending hours in the hot weather.

“It was hard to find someone not dressed in some sort of patriotic-themed shirt on, and there was this sort of festival feel about it,” Zito said. “Like if you were going to a Jimmy Buffett concert, and everyone’s just part of something bigger than themselves, so they’re happy. And he had one of his largest rallies ever in this same county in October, the last day of October, in 2020, and this is a county that Trump won by 65%, and so there was a lot of excitement. Even if you drove up to the event, people were standing outside, they were on their porches, they were waving flags, there was a real celebratory feeling about the event.”

The shooting occurred when a “pop-pop-pop” sound was heard and Trump fell to the ground, prompting Secret Service agents to quickly surround him, Zito explained. When three more shots were heard, she and the event photographers took cover, with someone from Trump’s campaign then laying on top of them to protect them.

Zito wrote in her own eyewitness account that there were “probably at least 30,000 people” attending the rally. She was also able to see Trump bleeding from his ear after the shooting.

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Trump wrote on Truth Social that he knew “immediately” something was afoul when he heard “a whizzing sound,” which then led to him feeling a bullet “ripping through” his skin. He offered his condolences to the family of the spectator who was killed in the shooting, as well as to the family of another spectator who authorities said was critically injured.

Countless lawmakers have shared their gratitude that Trump was not seriously injured by the shooting, and President Joe Biden has issued his own statement, condemning political violence as “sick.”