Trump Opens Return to Butler Where He Left Off: 'As I Was Saying'

Former President Donald Trump, in his return to Butler, Pennsylvania, to finish the speech he was giving in July when he was stopped by a would-be assassin, opened his emotional speech Saturday by telling the crowd: "As I was saying."

When the bullets rang out that at the July 13 rally, Trump was pointing out immigration numbers on a chart, and told the crowd Saturday, "I love that chart. I love that graph," while finishing the point he was making before his speech was stopped. 

Then he turned to remember the day this summer when Thomas Crooks stood on a nearby rooftop and opened fire, including holding a moment of silence, with the sound of the "Ave Maria" being sung at the rally by noted opera tenor Christopher Macchio to remember Cory Comperatore, the firefighter who was shot and killed while trying to shield his wife and daughters.

"Tonight I returned to Butler in the aftermath of tragedy and heartache to deliver a simple message to the people of Pennsylvania and to the people of America," Trump said at the rally. "Our movement to make America great again stands stronger, prouder, more united, more determined, and nearer to victory than ever before," he said, promising that his MAGA movement belongs to everyone no matter which party. 

"We are going to usher in a new golden age of American security, prosperity, sovereignty, and freedom for our citizens of every race, religion, color, and creed," said Trump.

The attempt, said Trump, came when a "cold-blooded assassin aimed to silence me and to silence the greatest movement, MAGA, in the history of our country."

"For 16 harrowing seconds during the gunfire, time stopped as this vicious monster unleashed pure evil from his sniper's perch," said Trump. "By the hand of providence and the grace of God, that villain did not succeed in his goal, did not come close. He did not stop our movement. He did not break our spirit. He did not shake our unyielding resolve to save America from the evils of poverty, hatred, and destruction."

Trump also thanked his Secret Service detail, "who threw their bodies on top of mine without a thought for their own lives."

"Those agents displayed a devotion to duty that cannot be described," he said. "And they did it yet again, less than three weeks ago, when they really did a fantastic job. Another attempt. It was another attempt. We have an evil world. We have a very sick world. My gratitude to them is beyond measure."

He further thanked Butler County law enforcement officials, the emergency personnel, and doctors at Butler Memorial Hospital and Allegheny General Hospital for their help to him and others wounded at the rally.

Comperatore, he added, is a "folk hero." 

His wife and family were at the rally, and Trump remembered him as an "incredible husband and father, a devout Christian, a veteran, and a proud former fire chief, very respected within the town. Everybody knew him. Few men volunteered to run into fires, but Corey was one of those."

Trump also honored David Dutch, 57, one of the two rallygoers injured. James Copenhaver, 74, was also a special guest, as were a handful of other July 13 attendees and first responders.

"It's love like Corey's that is joining us to save our country, that's going to heal our country, and that is going to reunite our country as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all," Trump said.

Trump was joined at the rally by several key supporters, including X owner Elon Musk, and was serenaded live by Lee Greenwood to his traditional entry song, "God Bless the USA."

He said he's been on a mission to rescue the United States "from a failed and very corrupt political establishment. Very corrupt. We have to change it. We have to change it. We need also a very free and open press to give it back to the country. You believe in and I believe in. It's a country that we were born in and the country that you deserve. You have to you deserve this in that mission. I will never quit. I will never bend. I will never break, I will never yield. Not even in the face of death itself."

Sandy Fitzgerald ✉

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

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