Trump refused Secret Service demand he be 'carried out on a stretcher' after assassination attempt

In a recent interview with Fox News, Donald Trump revealed that after being shot during his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Secret Service wanted to carry him off stage in a stretcher. The former president said he refused, telling agents it wasn't necessary. 

Sitting next to his running mate JD Vance, Trump explained to host Jesse Watters that his bodyguards initially believed he had been hit in the torso and that his injuries may have been more serious.

"They wanted to put me on a stretcher," Trump began, "and I said, I'm not going on a stretcher because I just felt it was the ear." He pointed out that while getting shot in the ear is "better than just about any other place in one way," it bleeds more than one might expect. 

"They thought I was hit actually in this area," he continued, pointing to his stomach, "and I wasn't. I said, I'm telling you, I'm okay, I'm fine. I'm going to get up. I want to get up. I'm not going to be taken out on a stretcher." 

Trump admitted that his refusal to be taken out on a stretcher resulted in "a little argument," but that the agents eventually understood. He praised them as "very brave humans" for being willing to run to his aid in the midst of gunfire.

"I got down pretty quickly, I think," he said. "I also think people were starting to shout. It's one of the reasons I was to go down so fast, because it almost is amazing that move of checking here and going almost immediately down. Probably people were shouting at the same time. Who knows. It was Bedlam. And I was down, and I said, 'Let's get going. Come on, let's go,' and the shooting had stopped, so I assumed they probably got him. They did get him."