When a bullet struck Donald Trump’s ear during a failed assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally, Ivanka Trump said she felt “horrified and scared” yet instinctively knew that her father “was fine” as “it wasn’t his time.”
On July 13, chaos erupted during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman opened fire, grazing Donald Trump’s ear before Secret Service agents rushed him from the stage.
Images of the then-candidate with blood splattered on the side of his face spread rapidly, turning a routine political event into a moment that stunned viewers across the country.
‘Felt the bullet ripping through the skin’
In a statement posted hours later on Truth Social, Trump described the frightening seconds when he realized he had been struck.
“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” the president wrote on July 13. “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”
He also acknowledged the victims caught in the attack, adding, “Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured.”
Authorities later identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed at the scene by a Secret Service counter sniper team.
Watched “almost in real-time’
For Ivanka Trump, the reality of what was happening came through a television screen as she watched the shooting unfold “almost in real-time” with two of her children at the Trump family golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“There was a lot of commotion. The televisions were on, so I saw it almost immediately,” Ivanka, 44, told host Steven Bartlett on an April 9 appearance on The Diary of a CEO podcast.
As the situation became clearer, her focus shifted instantly to her children.
“It was before he had stood back up that I had seen what was transpiring, and two of my children were there [with me],” she said of the kids she shares with her husband Jared Kushner – Arabella, 15, Joseph, 12, and Theodore, 10.
“My first reaction was to turn them away. It was incredibly difficult,” she added.
Even as the situation remained uncertain, she said she felt an unexpected sense of calm about the outcome.
“Interestingly, I knew in real time in that moment that he was fine. I just knew it wasn’t his time,” she said. “I was horrified and scared and protective of my children, but I also didn’t believe the worst possible outcome had transpired. And thank God it hadn’t.”
‘Failed attempt to take his life’
The experience left her confronting the fragility of life in a very personal way, something she explained has influenced how she chooses to respond emotionally.
“We were so fortunate that day that this was a failed attempt to take his life, not a realized one,” she said. “But you sort of recommit to love and connection and to a recognition of how short our time here on earth is and how you have to value it.”
She added that difficult experiences can shape how people choose to move forward.
“I could look at what happened and be rightfully traumatized by the experience, and nobody could really argue with that, but you have to move through it,” she said.
‘My father’s alive’
Looking back, Ivanka explained that she’s tried to approach the experience through a lens of perspective and appreciation.
“What does that accomplish, being negative towards the world?” she said. “I think that brings more negativity into the world.”
“And on the opposite side of that is the fact that [Trump is] with us today, that he didn’t die, that . And that is an extraordinary blessing for me, as his as his daughter. In life, you have a choice only in how you respond. And I choose to see the positive outcome that transpired,” she continued.
When asked what she thought about the shooter, Ivanka replied: “There’s a lot of sickness there and I think that forgiveness is a difficult thing in this regard. But [my father] living was a blessing,” she said.
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