Ivanka cries as she recalls assassination attempt on dad Donald Trump: ‘It wasn’t his time’

WASHINGTON, DC: Revisiting the horrifying moments when an assassination attempt was made on Donald Trump in July 2024, Ivanka Trump said in an interview that her life was changed radically after the incident.

Ivanka saw the assassination attempt on her father, then a presidential candidate, almost immediately after it happened on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, through a television report. Twenty-year-old Thomas Mathew fired multiple bullets at a crowd of Trump supporters, leaving Trump with injuries to his ears.

Ivanka Trump opens up about assassination attempt on father

Appearing on an emotional interview with Steven Bartlett on 'The Diary of a CEO,' Ivanka noted that the US faces "troubling times" as she spoke about the US’s secret service.

“The fact that there is a correlation between service and violence is terrible in and of itself, but that’s the world we live in so I have to acknowledge that reality and defend my family as best I can and make sure they’re protected. And I’m very fortunate that the Secret Service are the best in the world at doing that,” Ivanka said.

Ivanka played back the scenes that unfolded on July 13, 2024, and said that she was in “a lot of communication " when she got to know about the assassination attempt on her father.

“I was in Bedminster, New Jersey, and there was a lot of commotion and the televisions were on, so I saw it almost immediately,” she told Bartlett.

“It was almost real-time, it was before he had stood back up that I had seen what was transpiring — and two of my children were there, so my first reaction was to turn them away.”

'It was incredibly difficult': Ivanka revisits horrifying memory

Gulping her tears back during the emotional interview, Ivanka said, “It was incredibly difficult,” before she continued, “Interestingly,  I knew real-time in that moment that he was fine. I just knew that it wasn’t his time.”

“So I was horrified, and I was scared and I was protective of my children, but I also — I didn’t believe the worst possible outcome had transpired, thank God — and thank God it hadn’t.”

She also noted that she observed a shift in her perspective after seeing her father later that night, when he returned from the hospital.

“I just feel incredibly lucky that he was protected on that day. You can’t take things for granted in life,” she said. “And we were so fortunate that day that this was a failed attempt to take his life, not a realized one.”

Ivanka now 'recommits to love' after father's assassination

Describing the event as life-changing, Ivanka said that it made her appreciate each day.

“You recommit to love and connection and to a recognition of how short our time here on earth is,” Ivanka added.

When asked whether the incident gave her a negative view of society because someone would genuinely want her father dead, Ivanka said, “I don’t allow it to – what does that accomplish, being negative towards the world?”

“I think that brings more negativity to the world.”

“There’s a lot of sickness there, and I think that forgiveness is a difficult thing in this regard, but I think you have to,” Ivanka said about how she felt about the shooter.