Donald Trump came incredibly close to death during a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday. However, a split second decision saved his life.
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The former president turned his head to look at a jumbotron at the rally. His senior advisor said he wanted to use the jumbotron as a reference. This split second decision ultimately saved his life. The bullet ended up grazing the side of his ear. Israeli Special Operations veteran Aaron Cohen detailed how crucial that split second was.
Speaking with Fox News, Cohen explained the shot would have been incredibly easy for a sniper to pull off. "Snipers are typically trained to shoot into the cerebral cortex of the cerebellum at the top of the brain stem," Cohen explained to host Trace Gallagher.
"It incapacitates you, it keeps your hands from moving. ... It's about the distance of the shot. One hundred thirty yards. That's a putt. Anyone can put a two, two, three, optic on a target from that distance and hit it. It's not a difficult shot to make," he said.
Donald Trump Got Grazed
"It would have been lights out," Cohen said if Trump's head would have been straight. "The fact that he just happened to be turned this way with that shot coming in is what saved his life," the special ops expert said.
Meanwhile, a former Secret Service agent questioned the security at the event. He believes that if there had been a second shooter, then Trump's life would have been in greater jeopardy.
"Having worked with the Secret Service before, as I was watching this unfold, I could not believe how long this played out before they got him off of that stage into the car, and then it took that vehicle that long to depart that area," former FBI Special Agent Jonathan Gilliam told the outlet.
"It was a lifetime from a protection standpoint," he also said.
"A lot of people on the news ... didn't want to be critical of the Secret Service, but as I watch this again ... I'm astounded at the way things played out because it appeared as though ... the defense of Trump and the movements off were being made up as they went along, and that is not the way this elite service should be prepared for this and carrying out these tactics and this type of situation," Gilliam said.
