The attempt to kill Donald Trump will always be remembered in American history. He’s not the first U.S. President to face gunshots during a rally, but he was lucky—the bullet just scraped his right ear. Even though it didn’t hit him fully, he still got hurt. Trump later said his ear “still throbs” from the injury.
The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired at Trump from a nearby rooftop using an AR-15-style rifle. At the time, Trump was the Republican Party’s nominee. He survived, but sadly, one person at the rally died and two others were badly hurt. Crooks was later shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Almost a year later, more details have come out. Some believe the attack helped Trump win the 2024 presidential election. In a new book called Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power, journalist Alex Isenstadt shares what happened behind the scenes during and after the shooting.
He explains how Trump ducked behind the podium as the gunman fired eight shots. Secret Service agents quickly rushed to protect him. One agent, Sean Curran, even threw himself over Trump to shield him.
“There was chaos,” Alex wrote. People at the rally panicked—many were holding signs that said “Joe Biden: You’re Fired!” moments earlier. Despite being shot in the ear, Trump reportedly told the agents, “Let me get my shoes.”
Trump had been wearing shoes made by Swiss company Bally. Though they were made to tie, he wore them as slip-ons, so they came off during the chaos. He searched for them briefly and stood up, looking shocked.
Just minutes later, Trump raised his fist and shouted, “Fight, fight, fight!” It was a powerful moment. Cameras captured most of it, but Alex’s book shares what happened next. Trump was helped offstage, his usual neat golden hair messed up, and he was holding his bloody MAGA hat. As he walked down the stairs, he put one arm around an agent on his right. Curran was on his left.
It took about 20 seconds for Secret Service agents to get Trump into his SUV. He raised his arm again before they rushed him to Butler Memorial Hospital.
Trump’s close team—Wiles, Cheung, Scavino, and Nauta—headed straight to the emergency room. The hospital went into lockdown. Secret Service agents had their guns ready, and nurses moved other patients to make room for Trump.
Trump was wheeled into the ER. He removed his bloody hat, white shirt, and suit jacket. He was left wearing only his pants and undershirt. His shoes were left at the rally site but were later brought to the hospital.
The next few moments were tense. Trump was taken to a separate room while media outlets flooded his team with calls and texts. One network falsely reported that he had died, but his team quickly denied it, saying he was “fine.”
Even then, Trump made a joke at Joe Biden’s expense. He asked a nurse, “Can I get a copy of my CT scan? I want to show reporters my brain is working 100 percent—you can’t say the same about Joe Biden.”
He stayed in good spirits. The book says that when Trump saw photos from the attack, he said, “Wow, that’s iconic. That’s the most American picture I’ve ever seen.” He also joked, “This is going into the museum,” after getting his bloodied clothes back.
In the end, Trump’s injury wasn’t very serious. He didn’t need a lot of medical treatment. He left the hospital shortly after and later went on to defeat his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, in the election
