Featured Image Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Melania Trump, US News, Politics, Donald Trump
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Melania Trump, US News, Politics, Donald Trump
It's been exactly one year since an armed gunman fired shots at Donald Trump during an open-air campaign in Pennsylvania, and his wife Melania's gut-wrenching thoughts on the incident have once again reemerged.
On 13 July 2024, a 20-year-old man hid himself on the roof of a high-rise building near Butler, while the then-presidential candidate addressed a crowd of Republican voters.
Using an AR-15-style rifle, Thomas Matthew Crooks took aim at 79-year-old Trump, and fired several shots in his direction.
Despite a team of bodyguards throwing themselves over the right-wing politician and rushing him off the stage, a bullet clipped Trump's ear, with blood becoming splashed across his face.
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One of Crooks' bullets did hit a member of the crowd, however, who tragically died at the scene.
The US Secret Service quickly responded to the assassination attempt, however, and fatally shot the perpetrator.
A matter of weeks later, a second individual was also arrested near the father-of-five's Mar-a-Lago, Florida estate, having been carrying an AK-47-style weapon, which police believed he'd planned to use to take Trump down.
These aren't the only two occasions that the politician has been targeted, with Newsweek claiming a further nine attempts against his life have been made on him since his first term in the Oval Office.
Despite these attempts, however, the former businessman went on to win the presidency following his battle against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in November.
Following Trump's re-entry into the White House in January, a series of comments his wife, 55-year-old Melania, had previously made in response to the numerous assassination attempts against her husband coming to light.
Speaking previously to Fox News, the mother-of-one - who shares her 19-year-old son Barron with convicted criminal Trump - told of how her family were affected by the incidents.
"I saw how they treated him, how the media was against him," Melania began.
She went on to add of the impeachment he was faced with during his controversial first term in office: "I think they are afraid of his strength, and he was leading this country with peace through strength.
"So, as soon he announced that he was running for the presidency, everything really changed. And I saw it, and I said, you know, this will not be very pleasant."
Adding of the latest two incidents, Melania admitted: "So I always said to him, 'What is next?'.
"In one way, you’re not surprised, and with every event that happened, I kept thinking, 'What’s next? What are they trying to do?'.
"You always fear the worst, and then it happened."