Trump rewrites RNC speech after assassination attempt. Here's what to expect.

Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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Former President Donald Trump on Sunday said he rewrote his speech for the Republican National Convention this week to include a call for national unity after an assassination attempt against him over the weekend riled the nation.

During an interview with the Washington Examiner, the Republican presidential candidate said the shooting at his campaign rally on Saturday had provided him a “chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together” at the RNC in Milwaukee later this week.

“The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” Trump said during the conversation, noting that he was planning to mostly address President Joe Biden’s policy record.

More: RNC 2024 live updates: Trump stresses new theme after shooting

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.

“The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” he said, reportedly telling the interviewer that his new speech will meet the historical moment.

The conversation took place on Sunday afternoon aboard Trump’s private jet while the former president was en route from Bedminster, New Jersey, to Milwaukee for the RNC.

Trump also said during the interview that he is still processing Saturday’s events.

“That reality is just setting in,” he said. “I rarely look away from the crowd. Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?”

He saluted Corey Compertaore, the fire chief who was shot and killed at the rally while shielding his family from the gunfire, along with the two other attendees who were wounded in the shooting: David Dutch and James Copenhaver.

The presumptive Republican nominee explained his decision to pump his fist in the air while being ushered off stage, saying that he wanted the world to know “America goes on.”

“The energy coming from the people there in that moment, they just stood there; it’s hard to describe what that felt like, but I knew the world was looking,” Trump said. “I knew that history would judge this, and I knew I had to let them know we are OK.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump rewrites RNC speech to call for unity after rally shooting