We're still waiting for many answers regarding how the security situation went so disastrously wrong on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, largely because of the refusal of the Secret Service Director to be forthcoming even when she was summoned before the House to testify under oath. But some other details about that rally and the days that followed have continued to make their way into the public domain. A couple of interesting tidbits, though unrelated to the assassination attempt itself, came to us from Donald Trump himself during a recent interview he gave to Jesse Watters of Fox News. It had previously been reported that Joe Biden had placed a call to Trump in the aftermath, but the details of the call were not revealed. Trump described the call as "a nice conversation" and said that Biden had been cordial. He also revealed that the Secret Service had wanted to load him onto a stretcher to take him off the stage, but Trump refused, insisting that he would stand up on his own and walk off. (NY Post)

Donald Trump revealed in a newly aired interview what President Biden told him shortly after the Republican presidential nominee survived an assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania campaign rally.

“He said, ‘You’re lucky you turned to the right,’” Trump, 78, told Fox News host Jesse Watters of his phone call with the 81-year-old president.

Trump narrowly escaped death on July 13 when he turned his head to look at a chart put up on a screen just as 20-year-old Thomas Crooks opened fire during the rally in Butler, Pa.

On the one hand, I'm willing to give Joe Biden credit for at least having the decency to pick up the phone and make the call. The man had just literally been shot, after all. Joe Biden should be among the most empathetic toward Trump because the same thing could happen to him any time he makes a rare appearance in public. Calling Trump "lucky" to have turned at the exact moment needed to avoid death was something of an understatement, but at least he made the effort and didn't turn it into any sort of political attack.

Of course, making that phone call was literally the least Joe Biden could have done. Joe Biden (or Jill or one of his handlers, at least) would have been the perfect person to ask if there were issues with the security detail that allowed the situation to unfold and then commit himself to ordering the appropriate people to bring Trump's security up to full staffing and training. He either failed to do that or Trump neglected to mention it. But if the President had launched an investigation or ordered improved security, I would assume we'd have heard about it by now.

As to the situation with the stretcher, that's a bit of a tougher call to make. I must have watched the video of the shooting several dozen times by now and I don't know if a stretcher would have been the standard procedure or if it would have improved Trump's coverage and security while getting him off the stage. The stretcher would have kept him closer to the stage floor, but would his body have been more fully covered in case there was a second shooter on the scene? I suppose if might if every available agent was carrying it. But it also would have been slower than allowing him to walk off. Of course, Trump also mentioned during the interview that the agents were alarmed that he might have also been shot in the stomach. Thankfully that wasn't true, but if it had been a stretcher probably would have been the safest option to avoid disturbing the wound further.

Trump's motives for refusing the stretcher are no doubt easier to discern. After being gang-tackled by the Secret Service (a correct response by them) his natural instinct was to immediately rise to his own feet and inspire the crowd. He clearly knew by then that it wasn't a fatal shot and he would be capable of walking. Being carried away on a stretcher would have conveyed an impression of weakness. It would also have caused far greater alarm and worry among his supporters, leaving them wondering if the assassin had been successful and we had lost our candidate. What we observed during his exit from the stage was Donald Trump acting in pure reflex mode, following his natural instincts. As one of the speakers at the RNC said when addressing the assassination attempt (slightly paraphrased), "Someone brought a rifle to that rally. But a lion rose up on the stage."