Footage from behind the stage just after Donald Trump’s assassination attempt Saturday has emerged, showing Secret Service agents swarm the former president and chuck one of his dress shoes off stage—less than a second before he began calling out to have it put back on.
That clip, obtained by the Buffalo news station WBEN, begins with Trump prone on the stage just moments after his right ear was hit and his face bloodied. He later said in his first interview after the attack that he was tackled so hard by agents that both of his shoes, black slip-on Oxfords, flew off his feet.
Despite having just narrowly escaped death, Trump appeared to fixate on his missing shoes. As he was brought to his feet, he repeatedly insisted he wanted his shoes back on before he was hustled off the stage.
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Once Trump’s health and safety were confirmed, the ex-president’s missing shoe fixation became a lighter talking point of the attack—specifically, where the hell did it go? And why was it so important to get it back on?
The new video answers at least one of those questions. A Secret Service agent, dressed in the uniform black jacket and white dress shirt, grabbed one of Trump’s shoes and tossed it underhand off stage—seemingly to clear the way for Trump and other agents to exit the platform without tripping. It landed about 10 feet from the former president, in the grass, just off stage.
Once it was clear he wasn’t getting his footwear back, Trump raised his fist to the crowd, eliciting an eruption of cheers, applause, and chants of “USA.”
As he was escorted off the stage, rally-goers, perhaps still unaware of the gravity of the situation, yelled out, “We love you, Trump!” and “We love you, Donald!” The abandoned shoe was kicked by passing Secret Service agents as they walked to Trump’s motorcade and eventually came to a rest. The second shoe remained on stage, where it was photographed and instantly went viral.
Donald Trump had to leave his shoes behind after surviving an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.
Getty via The Washington PostOnce Trump was inside a vehicle, rally attendees began speculating about what had just happened and appeared enraged. In the WBEN footage, a woman is heard saying, “I hope they get whoever the fuck did this.” Another man calls out, “Did they find the asshole who did it?”
The gunman was identified Sunday as Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old native of western Pennsylvania. He was shot dead within seconds of opening fire on Trump, but the Secret Service has still come under intense scrutiny for not stopping Crooks before he perched himself on a building less than 150 yards from Trump.
Crooks’ gunfire struck Trump and at least three rally-goers in the crowd. Two, who haven’t been identified, have since been stabilized. The third man struck, a 50-year-old former fire chief who was shielding his wife and daughter from the gunfire, was killed.
