US3 min(s) read
Published 15:25 10 Apr 2026 GMT
Ivanka Trump has opened up about her real-time experience of watching a TV broadcast of her father at a rally, where he was shot.
Rewind the clock to July 13, 2024, and Donald Trump was nearing the end of his Presidential campaign with the goal of assuming office for the second time.
Trump looked to come out on top over Democratic leader Kamala Harris, and turned his attention to border crossings during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
As the Republican leader turned his head to speak about a chart that showed alleged illegal immigration numbers, the sounds of gunshots were heard, and special agents swarmed the stage to protect the 79-year-old.
Trump sustained a gunshot wound to the ear in a dramatic moment during the Presidential race, with blood splashed across his face as his eldest daughter, Ivanka, watched on from her family's Benminster, New Jersey, golf club.
Now she has spoken about how she felt while watching the incident unfold in "almost-real time".
This week, the former presidential advisor spoke about how she experienced the assassination attempt against her father.
Appearing on the Diary of a CEO podcast this week, she told host Steven Bartlett: "There was a lot of commotion. The televisions were on, so I saw it almost immediately,
"It was before he had stood back up that I had seen what was transpiring, and two of my children were there [with me].
"My first reaction was to turn them away. It was incredibly difficult."
Trump had been fired at by Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20 at the time, as he had unloaded eight rounds from an AR-15-style rifle from the roof of a building nearby, killing one audience member and critically injuring two other Republican attendees.
Crooks would be shot and killed by a member of the US Secret Service as a result.
Despite being shaken, Ivanka said that she didn't worry much, claiming to Bartlett: "Interestingly, I knew in real time in that moment that he was fine, I just knew it wasn’t his time.
"I was horrified and scared and protective of my children, but I also didn’t believe the worst possible outcome had transpired. And thank God it hadn’t," she said.
Ivanka admitted that she feels "incredibly lucky" that her father was protected that day, with the mother-of-three admitting that "you can’t take things for granted".
She added: "We were so fortunate that day that this was a failed attempt to take his life, not a realized one."
Bartlett asked Ivanka how she felt about Crooks' attempt to take her father's life, to which she explained: "There’s a lot of sickness there, and I think that forgiveness is a difficult thing in this regard - but [my father] living is a blessing."
She said there were no ill feelings, asking: "What does that accomplish, being negative towards the world?"
Ivanka said that while she could be "rightfully traumatized" by what had happened, at the end of the day "you have to move through it".
She highlighted that despite the horrific incident, her father is still with her today and this "is an extraordinary blessing for me as his daughter," as she chooses to "see the positive outcome" above all else.
