Donald Trump made a tasteless joke about women who would be "thrilled" to lose their husbands in an audio recording obtained by the Guardian before his own appearance Saturday with the widow of a firefighter killed at a Trump rally.
Two Trump supporters were injured and 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore was fatally shot as he protected his family by would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks at a July campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Comperatore's widow, Helen, and family members attended Trump's return appearance in Butler on Saturday.
"To go back up to that site where my husband was killed and open wounds that we're trying to close — my kids haven't even started to go back to work yet, and I was afraid it'd take them backwards," Helen Comperatore told the New York Times said in an interview. But ultimately, she said: "We decided this was something we needed to do."
But Trump joked about women who lose their husbands after the attempt on his life in an address at a fundraiser August 10 in Aspen, Colorado.
When Helen Comperatore was "handed a check" worth more than a million dollars, thanks to fundraising efforts by him and his aides, Trump claimed at the fundraiser, that she responded: "This is so nice, and I appreciate it, but I'd much rather have my husband," according to an audio tape of his remarks leaked to the Guardian.
Trump then quipped: "Now, I know some of the women in this room wouldn't say the same."
The guests, who included GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Florida) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), and casino owner Steve Wynn, erupted in laughter. Those who attended had to pony up from $25,000 to $500,000 a couple, according to the Guardian.
Trump added: "I know at least four couples. There are four couples, Governor [Abbott], that I know, and you're not one of them. At least four couples here would have been thrilled, actually."
Trump made a similar tasteless joke at a rally in July soon after the assassination attempt when he again noted that Helen Comperatore would have preferred to having her husband alive instead of the money.
"Isn't that good?" he asked the crowd. "I know a lot of wives that would not say that, I'm sorry," he smirked.
Trump on Corey Comperatore's widow: "Corey's wife said, 'I'd rather have my husband.' Isn't that good? I know a lot of wives that would not say that, I'm sorry." (Crowd laughs) pic.twitter.com/hTA7av6TVT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 31, 2024
Trump's return to the Butler fair grounds was his first visit to the site since he was wounded in the ear in the assassination attempt. The Comperatore family was invited, along with Elon Musk and first responders who rushed to the scene in July.
Comperatore has not responded to Trump's joke about women "thrilled" to lose their husbands.
She has said in an interview with Pittsburgh's Channel 4 TV in in August that she "talks" to her late husband often. "And the only thing that ever comes out of my mouth is, 'I'm sorry this happened to you,'" she recounted. She added: "I know he's with me. I feel him guiding me at times."
In Trump's remarks at the Aspen fundraiser he also railed — again —about immigrants, and made up a story about "22 murderers" from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who were released from prison to the U.S.
"We said, 'Where do you come from?' They said, 'Prison.' 'What did you do?' 'None of your f--king business what we did.' You know why? Because they're murderers," Trump claimed, adding with a surprise: "I hate to use that foul language."
Congolese government officials angrily responded that "everything he is saying isn't true," and Trump provided no details nor evidence for his statement.
"We want him to stop telling these stories," Democratic Republic of Congo spokesperson Patrick Muyaya Katembwe told CNN.
Serge Mombouli, ambassador to the U.S. from the neighboring Republic of Congo, told CNN on Friday: "There is no truth or any sign nor a single fact supporting such a claim or statement."
While appearing to be certain of his story, Trump at the same seems confused about the existence of the Congolese nations. He said at a rally Tuesday in Milwaukee about immigrants: "Many people from the Congo. I don't know what that is, but they come out of jails in the Congo."
Trump in Milwaukee: "They come from the Congo in the Africa. Many people from the Congo. I don't know what that is, but they come out of jails in the Congo." pic.twitter.com/i25SegFIXv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 1, 2024
