Trump gives dramatic account of assassination attempt in RNC speech

Donald Trump described on Thursday how he narrowly survived an attempt on his life, telling a rapt audience at the Republican National Convention in his first speech since the attack that he was only there "by the grace of Almighty God."

"I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear," he said in Milwaukee, a thick bandage still covering his ear. "I said to myself, 'Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet."

When he told the crowd that he was "not supposed to be here," the crowd chanted back, "Yes you are!" With photos of a bloodied Trump showing on screens behind him, Trump praised the Secret Service agents that rushed to his side and paid tribute to the volunteer firefighter who was killed, Corey Comperatore, kissing his fire helmet.

The former president struck an unusually conciliatory tone during the speech's opening moments, when he formally accepted the party's presidential nomination.

"I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America," he said, in a marked shift in tenor for the typically bellicose former president.

But he swiftly pivoted to well-worn attacks on the Biden administration, claiming without evidence that his criminal indictments are politically motivated efforts to prevent his election.

Trump's opponent in the November 5 election, meanwhile, Democratic President Joe Biden, was "soul searching" about whether to drop out of the race entirely, one source said, after senior party figures, congressional allies and major donors warned him he could not win following a halting debate performance on June 27.

Biden, 81, was isolating at his Delaware home after contracting COVID-19. His doctor said he was experiencing mild symptoms.

(With input from Reuters)

(Cover: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump raises his fist from the stage on Day 4 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 18, 2024. /Reuters)