President Donald Trump he has no interest in wearing a bulletproof vest despite surviving multiple assassination attempts.
Trump, 79, was asked by reporters at the Oval Office event on Thursday, April 30, if there were any discussions about the president taking security measures in the future.
“I don't know if I can look at 20 pounds,” Trump replied, prompting laughter from most of the people in the room.
Trump may have been the target when a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, held in the Washington Hilton ballroom on April 24.
The president and the first lady Melania Trump56, were rushed to the stage after a gunshot.
While the Trumps, the Vice President JD Vance while the others were taken out safely, the Secret Service was called during the incident. The injured agent was wearing a protective vest.
“Frankly, the vest did an amazing job because it took the bullet at close range,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday. “And he didn't even want to go to the hospital, so we sent him to the hospital.
Trump also likened the experience of being shot while wearing a bulletproof vest to “being beaten by Mike Tyson.”
The day after the WHCD shooting, Trump praised the role of the bulletproof vest as he briefed the media on the state of the wounded Secret Service.
Donald Trump.
(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)“The vest did the job,” Trump told reporters. “I just spoke to this officer and he was working well, he is in good condition, he is at a high standard and I told him that we love him and respect him and he is a proud man, he is very proud of what he does, a Secret Service agent.”
A native of California Cole Thomas Allen was caught during the shooting and charged with attempted assassination of the President of the United States, transporting a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, according to the Department of Justice. He hasn't applied yet.
Shocking new video footage shows the moment shots were fired at the White House Correspondents' Dinner last weekend. Jeanine Pirro, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, posted what appears to be body camera footage of the X shooting on Thursday, April 30. The suspect in the shooting, Cole Tomas Allen, is suspected of […]
Meanwhile, Trump insisted he was “honored” to be the victim after the WHCD shooting.
“If you look at our great presidents, [this] it doesn't happen to people who don't do anything,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday, April 25.
Trump also talked about his seemingly slow exit from the ballroom during the incident.
“What happened was me, I wanted to see what happened, I wasn't making it that easy [the shooter],” said Trump 60 Minutes Sunday, April 26.
“I wanted to see what was happening. And at that time, we started to realize that maybe it was a bad problem, a different kind of problem, bad, and different from what would be the normal noise from the ballroom, which you hear all the time,” he added. “I was surrounded by great people, and maybe I made them take it a little bit slower. I said, 'Wait a minute, let me see.'
