Trump vows to continue holding outdoor rallies as he reveals Melania was ‘watching live’ when he was shot

Former President Donald Trump vowed Monday that he would continue to hold outdoor rallies despite the recent assassination attempt on his life, which he revealed his wife, Melania, was “watching live.”

“Yes, I will do (outdoor) rallies,” Trump, 78, told Fox News host Laura Ingraham when asked if he would hold outdoor events in the future in light of the July 13 shooting at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The US Secret Service reportedly encouraged the former president’s campaign to stop holding outdoor events due to security concerns. Since the assassination attempt, all of Trump’s campaign events have been held indoors.

“I think it’s important symbolically,” the Republican presidential candidate said of his upcoming return to the city where the assassination attempt took place.

“I don’t think we should be stopped by somebody who has serious mental problems or whatever their problem is,” Trump added.

Trump, who was shot in the ear at the Butler rally by Matthew Thomas Crooks, 20, noted that the former first lady was watching the event on television as the horrific shooting unfolded and thought “the worst had happened.”

“She was watching live,” the former president said.

“She can’t even really talk about it, which is okay,” Trump said, adding, “That means she likes me.”

“When I fell, she thought the worst had happened,” the 45th president said of Melania’s immediate reaction, “because I fell and I grabbed my hand and my hand was full of blood.”

Crooks was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper moments after he shot Trump, seriously wounded two rally-goers and killed one attendee.

The Secret Service has been heavily criticized for failing to monitor the roof of the building that Crooks managed to scale before targeting Trump and opening fire. The federal agency has also been scrutinized for losing track of the would-be assassin despite being alerted to his existence before Trump spoke.

“There should have been communication with the local police, which there wasn’t,” Mr. Trump said of the Secret Service. “So that’s a bad thing, and they were seeing this man — he was a very disturbed person, and they were seeing him everywhere.”

Trump also revealed that his interview with the FBI victim would take place on Thursday.

The victim interview is a typical, voluntary aspect of FBI investigative procedures, where the bureau attempts to obtain the victim’s perspective on the crime that occurred.

Trump criticized FBI Director Christopher Wray for suggesting during congressional testimony last week that “shrapnel” might have hit his ear rather than a whole bullet.

The FBI later released a statement confirming that Trump had indeed been hit by a real bullet.

The former president also said that sweeping Supreme Court reforms proposed by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “are going nowhere” and vowed not to make changes to the nation’s highest court if elected.

The Biden-Harris proposals include legislation that would impose an 18-year term limit on Supreme Court justices; requirements that justices disclose gifts, avoid public political activity and recuse themselves if they or their spouses have conflicts of interest; and a new constitutional amendment that would limit presidential immunity.

“This is a typical Biden scam,” Trump said of the proposals.

“He doesn’t want to give up his immunity, because if he didn’t have it, look at all the things he’s done, the three and a half million dollars from Russia. All the money he’s gotten from China, all the bad things and evil things he’s done, not to mention the thousands of people killed at the border,” Trump told Ingraham.

“I’ll tell you if, if I’m president, it doesn’t happen. We’ll leave it as is. It’s been working very well for a long time,” he said of the Supreme Court.