Washington Examiner senior columnist Salena Zito gave an interview on O’Connor & Company Wednesday to share the content of her phone calls with President Donald Trump after he survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year.
“He came to terms in those conversations about God, because he said, ‘Salena, I have no explanation for why I put the chart down. I never put the chart down. I have no explanation as to why I turned my head around. I never turn away from the crowd,’” Zito said.
“I said to him, Mister President, are you bleeping kidding me? I was not shot. You were shot. I just couldn’t believe he was asking about me…”@ZitoSalena reveals what now-President Trump said to her in SEVEN stunning phone calls they had on July 14, 2024 – the day after he was… pic.twitter.com/XB7Kj8LqIB
— Next Up with Mark Halperin (@NextUpHalperin) July 8, 2025
Zito details all seven phone calls she received the day after the shooting in her new book, Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland. In her capacity as a reporter, Zito was present at the Butler rally with her daughter and son-in-law.
“‘The only explanation to me is the presence of God, the hand of God. So what does that mean? For me it means I have a purpose that I didn’t understand that I had before,’” Zito continued to paraphrase the president.
Zito was scheduled to interview Trump that day, but the interview was ultimately postponed. According to Zito, he apologized in several phone calls the next day because they both had “a connection to that moment” of the shooting.
TRUMP HERALDS ‘POWERFUL’ BOOK BY THE ‘WASHINGTON EXAMINER’S’ ZITO ON ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
“I think much of it had to do with, we were both there and we both experienced it,” Zito said on Next Up with Mark Halverpin Tuesday. “Those are pretty profound conversations that we had in those moments.”
Zito shared a photo of Trump holding up a signed copy of her book on X on Tuesday, the day the book was released.
