Trump & Vance Fox interview LIVE — Ex-president tells Jesse Watters Biden called to say he was ‘lucky’ after shooting
DONALD Trump has opened up about the phone call he shared with President Biden directly after a would-be assassin fired shots at him during a campaign rally 10 days ago.
The former president spoke alongside his running mate, JD Vance, during their first joint interview with Jesse Watters on Fox on Saturday.
The pre-taped chat was moved up following Joe Biden's shock announcement on Sunday afternoon that he would be suspending his re-election campaign.
Biden has made clear he will continue to serve the remainder of his term but is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democrat nomination.
As well as discussing Harris' future with the Democrats, Trump was asked during the interview about the attempt on his life during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
He told Watters that in his phone call with the president directly after the shooting, Biden told him that he is "lucky" to have moved his head when he did.
Reports emerged that the Secret Service was aware of the shooter's presence, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, for nearly an hour before Trump took the stage.
The interview will continue to air during Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime at 8pm EST on Tuesday.
Trump reveals what Biden told him after the rally shooting
Donald Trump told Jesse Watters he had "a nice conversation" with Joe Biden on the night he was shot at on stage in Pennsylvania.
“He said, ‘You’re lucky you turned to the right,'” Trump said, before adding, "I said, 'I think so.'"
Biden recently spoke of the chat himself, telling NBC's Lester Holt in an interview that he "told him how concerned I was and he sounded good, he sounded fine."
He added that Trump had "thanked me for calling."
Jesse Watters on Kamala Harris
Watters has previously said Kamala is "even more radical and incompetent than old Joe Biden,” declaring her “even more unpopular than the most unpopular president in American history.”
“Kamala is probably easier to manipulate than Joe Biden,” Watters said.
The Fox host has also said a term from Harris would be “a DEI presidency."
Trump's Truth Social posts
Prior to Trump and Vance's interview on Monday, Trump expressed his disdain for the president's announcement to step aside for Harris to take the reins of the Democratic nomination.
"Only 105 days now until the most important election in our lifetime. Wow now democrats are even stealing elections from their primary winner and disenfranchising millions of democrat voters. Unbelievable," Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump says a lack of accountability and communication is to blame for the attempt on his life
"It just shouldn't have been when you have a flat open roof like that and it's direct at the target with nothing in its way."
"You had Trumpers screaming, the woman in the red shirt, she was screaming 'there's a man on the roof' and then other people said 'there's a man on the roof who's got a gun' and that was quite a bit before I walked on the stage, so you would've thought someone would've done something about it."
"What did he do when he dropped off the roof," Trump asked about the local policeman who confronted Crooks and then fell off the roof.
"I wish somebody would've done that because Corey would've been alive," Trump on lack of communication at the rally.
"Somebody should've made sure there was nobody on that roof. They said they didn't have the manpower for it, which is crazy," Trump said.
"It essentially was a flat roof, so somebody gave her false information when she spoke about the slope of the roof."
"I think clearly she needs to be more forthcoming," JD Vance said of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
JD Vance says he does not trust the FBI's leadership
"I don’t trust the bureau leadership," said Vance when asked if he trusts the FBI and their subsequent investigation into the shooting.
"I think somebody, whether it’s someone higher up or somebody else involved really did screw up," said Vance.
Trump chimed in and said, "There's some things going on with our governmnet that we really have to worry about."
Trump says he was not told about any threat prior to taking the stage on day of shooting
"Nobody mentioned it, nobody said there was a problem," Trump said.
"I would've waited for 15, they could've said let's wait for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 5 minutes, something. Nobody said. I think that was a mistake."
"How did somebody get on that roof? And why wasn't he reported? Because people saw he was on the roof."
"There were some mistakes," Trump said.
"The people on the stage were unbelievable and brave. And they were running past bullets."
Trump speaks out on the moment he was shot
The former president told Watters, "There was a lot of blood coming. I'm telling you I'm okay, I want to get up. I'm not going to be taken off on a stretcher,
"I knew it was something very serious. I had a lot of humans on top of me. I got down pretty quickly. It was bedlam."
"They thought I was hit elsewhere."
"They thought it was over when I went down" because of the blood, Trump said
"Once I was up, I realized -- everybody was stunned."
"Nobody stampeded. Nobody ran, including the tens of thousands of people who were in front of me."
Trump speaks on his condition after the shooting
"Getting much better," Trump said about his ear, which was reportedly grazed by a bullet.
"We're getting down to the small bandages. But it was a nasty one."
Who would've thought this was going to be happening?"
"But it happened. And I got very lucky."
JD Vance says Trump asked to speak to his wife when he was chosen as VP
"He asked to speak to my wife, actually.," Vance said about finding out he was going to be the Republican party's VP nominee.
"She was kind of flabbergasted," Vance said about his wife's reaction to learning that her husband was chosen as Trump's VP pick.
Trump on picking JD Vance for his VP
Trump said he chose JD Vance as his Vice President because the pair "always had a good chemistry," he told Jesse Watters.
"Originally JD was originally not for me but he didn't know me," Trump said about Vance's prior criticisms.
Trump also said that there aren't many people who like him more than JD Vance.
Trump says he believes 'Biden is not in good health'
Donald Trump spoke about Biden using the "children's stairs" on Air Force One, saying he doesn't believe the president is in good health.
Trump told Watters, "His doctors keep giving him this wonderful report. When I saw him the other day he was unable to get up the children's stairs of Air Force One. They're called the children's stairs."
More from Vance and Trump tomorrow
More clips from JD Vance and Donald Trump's first joint interview will air tomorrow night on Jesse Watters Primetime.
The Republicans are expected to further discuss their campaign strategy and their policy points.
The interview was recorded before Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Frank Biden says health 'played a role' in brother's decision
Biden's younger brother, Frank, told CBS News that the president's health was "absolutely" a factor in his decision to suspend the campaign.
Frank added that he was "incredibly proud" of his brother and called Biden a "genuine hero."
"The goal remains the same - defeat Trump and continue the work that Joe has done. My hope is that our party rallies around this heroic act," Frank added.
Barack Obama as VP?
Barack Obama's name has floated during this campaign, however, the constitution prevents him from joining Harris on the presidential ticket.
The 22nd Amendment prevents a president from getting elected to office more than twice.
The 12th Amendment also adds that a vice presidential candidate must be eligible for president to run a campaign, therefore adding Obama to the ticket would arguably violate the constitution.
Tune in tomorrow
The second half of Jesse Watters' interview with Donald Trump and JD Vance will air on Fox tomorrow at 8 pm EST.
The pre-recorded interview was shown in clips during tonight's special Sunday edition show.
Trump on Obama
Trump told Watters that he believed Biden and Barack Obama hated one another.
He cited a campaign event in Los Angeles that Obama and Biden attended where Obama walked Biden off stage.
"It made him look really bad, like a child. They don't like each other, it's pretty tough," he claimed.
Obama made Biden look like a childPotential VP picks
Now that Joe Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris, take a look at some potential picks as her running mate,
- Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky
- Governor Rory Cooper of Arizona
- Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania
- Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona
Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky are key swing states in the election.
Picking a running mate from a swing state would help Harris secure those electoral votes.
Tulsi Gabbard criticizes Harris
Tulsi Gabbard, a former member of Congress and presidential candidate, appeared on Jesse Watters to discuss Harris' presidential run.
Gabbard agreed with Watters that Harris was "too radical" to win the presidency and questioned Harris' record as a California Attorney General and Senator.
Gabbard released a video on X earlier today and wrote, "Biden’s out, Kamala is in. Don’t be fooled: policies won’t change. Just like Biden wasn’t the one calling the shots, Kamala Harris won’t be either.
"She is the new figurehead for the deep state and the maidservant of Hillary Clinton, queen of the cabal of warmongers. They will continue their efforts to engulf the world in war and taking away our liberty."
AOC endorses Harris
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has just expressed her support for Harris on X.
Is it a coup?
Trump and Vance agreed that the Democrats have implemented a coup against Biden.
Vance suggested that Biden wasn't fit to continue his presidency and demanded he step down from Commander-in-Chief.