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Melania Trump has blamed Democrats and the mainstream media for “fueling a toxic atmosphere” that led to two assassination attempts on her husband.
In her first interview in over two years, the former first lady spoke of the “outrageous violence” against Donald Trump, echoing her husband’s rhetoric that his political rivals are to blame.
“It is really shocking that all this outrageous violence goes against my husband,” she told Fox & Friends’s Ainsley Earhardt, referring to the assassination attempt on July 13 at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally and the second foiled attempt in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15.
“Especially that we hear the leaders from the opposition party and mainstream media branding him as a threat to democracy, calling him vile names,” Melania continued.
“They’re only fueling a toxic atmosphere and giving power to all of these people that want to do harm to him.”
She added: “This needs to stop. The country needs to unite.”
In Butler, Trump was grazed on the ear by a bullet fired by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Melania recalled how she “ran to the TV” after learning of the attempted assassination and watched as her husband was bundled to the ground.
“I didn’t really see [it] live, but maybe, you know, three minutes, a few minutes later. But when I saw it, I, you know, it was only... Nobody really knew yet. Because when you see him on the floor, and you don’t know, you don’t know what really happened,” she said.
Melania also revealed she wasn’t able to speak with Trump immediately. “First, the Secret Service was not available too, because they were with him, right?” she said.
“And then after that, I got the Secret Service on the phone, and they said that he’s okay. ‘We are in on the way to the hospital.’”
Afterwards, Trump spoke with his wife and youngest son Barron Trump, 18, on the phone.
“The way he stood up and said, ‘Fight, fight, fight,’” following the attempt on Trump’s life shows his strength, Melania added.
Following the second assassination attempt while the former president was playing golf at Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Trump tried to blame Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden.
“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris, and he acted on it,” Trump told Fox News the next day, referring to Ryan Routh, the suspect charged with attempting to assassinate Trump in Florida.
“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out.”
Melania also echoed her husband’s rhetoric in crediting God with saving him, describing both events as “miracles.”
When Earhardt asked if it was “like God sparing his life?” Melania replied: “Yes.”
“I think something was watching over him,” she elaborated.
“If you really think about it, July 13 was a miracle. That much...,” she said – gesturing a small gap with her thumb and index finger to indicate just how close the bullet came to missing Trump’s head – “...and he could not be with us.”
“I think something was watching over him,” she said. “It’s almost like [the] country really needs him.”
Melania was also asked to name traits of her husband that may persuade his dissenters to become MAGA loyalists.
“He’s really a family man. He loves his family. He loves this country. And all he wants is to build, build better... and prosperous,” she claimed.
