Former President Donald Trump said “unfinished business” drew him back to Butler, Pennsylvania, after he survived an assassination attempt there at a campaign rally in July.
During an interview on Fox News, “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo asked Trump about his rally last weekend in the same place a bullet struck his ear nearly three months prior.
“Why did you have to go back to Butler?” Bartiromo queried.
BARITOROMO: “Why did you have to go back to Butler?… You started with ‘as I was saying.'”
PRES. TRUMP: “Unfinished business I think… It was a beautiful thing because the audience understood it immediately.” pic.twitter.com/beweZVF5ii
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 13, 2024
Before Trump could answer, Bartiromo added, “I liked the way you started: ‘As I was saying.’”
She was referencing how Trump re-introduced a chart on illegal immigration that he credits with saving his life because he turned his head to it just as the gunman opened fire.
“Yea, unfinished business, I think,” Trump told Bartiromo in response to her question.
In reference to the chart, Trump said, “I wasn’t sure if I should start it that way, but I guess it was a good thing.”
He added, “It was a beautiful, too, because the audience understood it immediately,” alluding to the cheers in the audience when he brought the chart back out.
Trump also talked about a moment of silence last weekend at the same time of day the shooting took place at his rally on July 13.
It was a gesture that honored Corey Comperatore, a fireman who was killed in the shooting, which also injured Trump and other attendees. The gunman was killed by Secret Service counter-snipers.
“We had a moment of silence, and then we had the great bells of Notre Dame. We had a taping of the great bells of Notre Dame,” Trump told Bartiromo.
“You heard the bells going. And there are no bells like that in the village. So we had the great bells,” he added.
Trump went on to discuss a performance of “Ave Maria” by classical singer Christopher Macchio.
“And then we had a — Christopher, a great opera singer. And he sang ‘Ave Maria.’ And it — and I was looking at this massive audience,” Trump said.
Trump continued, “Half of the people were crying. I mean, it was incredible. Everybody. I mean, the place was going wild.”
