President Donald Trump has revealed new details about the moments following the assassination attempt on his life in July 2024, recalling how the amount of blood led aides to believe he had been hit multiple times.
According to an excerpt from the upcoming book 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, published by The Washington Post, Trump was rushed to the hospital after being shot during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had opened fire from a rooftop roughly 100 yards away.
In the hospital, Trump sat upright in bed, still wearing his suit, with a bandage covering his ear. “There was blood everywhere,” the book states.
“It was bleeding like a b****,” Trump reportedly told the authors. “They thought I had four or five bullets in me because there was so much blood,” referring to his then-top aides Susie Wiles, Steven Cheung, and Dan Scavino.
The mood shifted when staff realized Trump was alert and cracking jokes. “That’s when we knew he was okay,” said one aide, according to the book.
A Turning Point in the Campaign
The attempted assassination proved to be a pivotal moment in Trump’s campaign. An outpouring of support followed, even from some of his most vocal critics. Billionaires Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg—previously at odds with Trump—reached out with endorsements and well wishes.
“Bezos said Trump’s instincts showed who he really was and expressed interest in a friendship,” the book claims. Aide Susie Wiles reportedly remarked on how people who once avoided Trump were now eagerly aligning with him. “Trump loved it. He was having a great time,” the book adds.
Meta CEO Zuckerberg called Trump’s defiant fist pump after the shooting “one of the most badass things” he’d ever seen.
That same day, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk publicly endorsed Trump, writing on X, “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”
Brief Call with Biden, Reunion with Melania
After the shooting, Trump received a phone call from then-President Joe Biden. The conversation was described as “brief and awkward” given their fiery debate just two weeks earlier. Still, Trump called the exchange “very nice, actually.”
Once discharged from the hospital, Trump flew to his Bedminster estate in New Jersey, where his wife Melania was waiting for him.
As the book puts it: “Trump loved the attention. He was having a great time.”
