Donald Trump slightly turned his head to look at a jumbotron at the same time shots rang out at his Pennsylvania rally Saturday evening – and the split-second move saved his life, an expert says.
Trump, 78, turned to the right while addressing the crowd at the Butler Farm Show grounds because he wanted to “use and reference the jumbotron,” senior adviser Dan Scavino Jr. said Sunday.
The small adjustment came right at the moment Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, aimed and shot at the former president’s head, causing the bullet to skim the Republican frontrunner’s ear as opposed to penetrating his skull, Israeli Special Operations veteran Aaron Cohen told Fox News.
“Snipers are typically trained to shoot into the cerebral cortex of the cerebellum at the top of the brain stem,” Cohen explained to host Trace Gallagher.
“It incapacitates you, it keeps your hands from moving. … It’s about the distance of the shot. One hundred thirty yards. That’s a putt. Anyone can put a two, two, three, optic on a target from that distance and hit it. It’s not a difficult shot to make,” he said.
If Trump’s head had been straight when Crooks fired, “it would have been lights out,” Cohen said.
“The fact that he just happened to be turned this way with that shot coming in is what saved his life,” the special ops expert said.
But while Trump’s last-second turn may have spared his life, some former federal agents said the frenzied effort to get him off the rally stage after the shots rang out also could have placed the real-estate mogul in more serious danger.
“Having worked with the Secret Service before, as I was watching this unfold, I could not believe how long this played out before they got him off of that stage into the car, and then it took that vehicle that long to depart that area,” former FBI Special Agent Jonathan Gilliam told “Fox & Friends First” on Sunday.
“It was a lifetime from a protection standpoint,” he said.
“A lot of people on the news … didn’t want to be critical of the Secret Service, but as I watch this again … I’m astounded at the way things played out because it appeared as though … the defense of Trump and the movements off were being made up as they went along, and that is not the way this elite service should be prepared for this and carrying out these tactics and this type of situation,” Gilliam said.
Former FBI Director Chris Swecker agreed with Gilliam’s take and said the attempt on Trump’s life was “almost a kill shot.”
“If there had been a second shooter, there would have been plenty of opportunity to take him out again, so this breaks every rule of the Secret Service protocol and just general executive protection in general,” he explained.
The security at the rally was a “breakdown from start to finish,” Swecker said.
“The primary mission of the Secret Service is to prevent this type of action and then react as swiftly as they can to get him out of the danger zone. Neither happened here, so I don’t want to issue harsh judgments, but it was definitely a security breakdown,” he said.
Everything we know about Trump assassination attempt
- Former President Donald Trump was targeted by a shooter during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania
- Trump’s face was grazed by a bullet during the shooting
- The gunman and one bystander have been killed
- President Biden addressed the nation and referred to the shooting as sick, saying he “tried to get ahold of Donald”
- Exclusive: First photos of Thomas Matthew Crooks emerge after assassination attempt
- Donald Trump urges the nation to not let ‘evil win’ and to ‘fear not’ after shooting
- World leaders condemn ‘political violence’ at Trump rally: ‘Can’t take anything for granted’
Keep up to date with The Post’s live blog on the assassination attempt on Trump
Retired Secret Service Agent Jeff James said outdoor events present unique security challenges and that the Secret Service should have approached things differently than it did.
“Once they got to [Trump], they should have grabbed him and [exited the stage]. He wanted to wait for his shoes. That’s great, but, ‘No, we’re going,’ ” he told the network.
“If I had one criticism, that would be it. I would have liked to see him off the stage and into the armored vehicles more quickly. Once you get in those armored vehicles and you’re locked down, you’re pretty safe, and you can get moving at a pretty high rate of speed quickly if you had to.”
Trump was examined after the shooting at Butler Memorial Hospital. He touched down in New Jersey early Sunday.
Undeterred by the Saturday evening incident, the Republican presidential candidate will attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week as planned, his campaign said.