ONE FOR THE TEAM

Trump Says He Would Take a Bullet for America

The president has been the target of three unsuccessful assassination attempts.

Donald Trump has survived three assassination attempts, but he insists he would still take a bullet for his country.

“Take a bullet—it’s a terrible expression, especially when it is used by me, but I am. I’m willing to take a bullet for the country," the president said in a rambling press conference in the Oval Office on Monday.

Trump was wounded in the ear after a sniper fired at him during a campaign appearance in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. A would-be assassin with a SKS-style semi-automatic weapon was also found hiding in the bushes at the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida, in September 2024.

And last month, Secret Service agents prevented a gunman from carrying out a plot to kill Trump and his Cabinet at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington.

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Trump flitted through a vast range of subjects at an event that was supposed to promote maternal healthcare.

He quickly changed the topic back to his efforts to deal with the “lunatics” in Iran he was negotiating with in an attempt to reach a peace deal. “I say to them, ‘You people are crazy, I deal with them,” he added.

He claimed the floundering ceasefire was on “life support.”

Trump was wounded at a rally in Butler when 20-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks climbed onto a nearby roof and fired, wounding Trump in the upper right ear, killing volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore, and injuring two others before he was killed by the Secret Service.

Ryan Wesley Routh was sentenced to life in federal prison plus 84 months for the September 2024 incident, when he hid in the bushes at Trump’s golf club for 12 hours. He was spotted by a Secret Service agent before he was able to carry out his plan to shoot the president.

Appearing in court in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Cole Allen pleaded not guilty to all charges after he was accused of the attempted assassination of the president, assault on a federal officer, and multiple firearms offenses.

Allen was accused of trying to run into the ballroom of the Hilton International Hotel in Washington during the annual WHCA dinner on April 25. The president, First Lady Melania Trump, and Vice President JD Vance were in the ballroom along with most members of the Cabinet, as well as lawmakers from both parties and members of the media.

A Secret Service officer was shot in the chest but was saved by his bulletproof vest. He fired five shots but missed the shooter.

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David GardnerChief National Correspondent

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