Eric Trump said he witnessed the assassination attempt on his father former President Donald Trump while watching television with his young children — recounting how he “just couldn’t believe” what he was seeing unfold on the screen.
Eric, 40, recalled the horrifying experience during an interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie Monday night, as Trump and his supporters gathered at the Republican National Convention just 48 hours after the near-miss.
“Two days ago, I was on the couch with my children watching my father almost get assassinated on national TV,” Eric said of the moment he saw the shots ring out during Trump’s rally in Butler, Penn., on Saturday evening.
Eric shares a son, Luke, 6, and a daughter, Carolina, 4, with his wife, Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump.
“I saw it live…I clearly understand the sound of a bullet, and I heard the shots and my eyes went right up to the TV and I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he added.
“You instantly see blood, you instantly see someone on the ground, and you don’t know if they were hit multiple times, and you’re just praying to God that they stand up.”
Would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, fired several shots with an AR-style rifle at about 130 yards away from the podium where Trump, 78, was addressing the crowd.
One bullet managed to graze the former president’s ear – narrowly missing the side of his skull.
“He’s got a bad earache, to say the least,” Eric said of his father’s injury.
“At least we knew he was mobile at that point,” he added of seeing his blood-streaked father get up and punch his fist in the air seconds after the bullet whizzed by.
“Those are not fun moments,” he lamented. “This cannot happen in this country.”
Despite the trauma of the shooting – which killed one rallygoer and critically wounded two others – Eric revealed that his father insisted on appearing at the RNC as planned.
“I spoke to him 45 minutes after that shooting, and he goes ‘Nothing changes with the convention, I’m gonna be there,’” he recalled.
Trump initially planned to delay his trip to the key swing state following the attempt on his life, but announced on Sunday that he decided against it.
“I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else,” the former president wrote on Truth Social.
On Monday evening, Eric Trump cast the deciding vote that officially made his father the Republican Party’s nominee for the November election.
Trump got 2,387 of the 2,429 pledged delegates in a roll call vote – well over the 1,215 delegates needed to solidify his candidacy.
Trump greeted the crowd on the convention floor with his right ear wrapped in bandage.
Eric and his older brother, Donald Jr., 46, were on hand to greet their dad, as well as his newly-announced VP pick, JD Vance.
Noticeably absent from the Trump camp, however, was former first lady Melania Trump, as well as Trump’s youngest son, Barron, and daughter Ivanka.