By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent
President Donald Trump got personal at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, talking about his own faith journey, noting how last year’s assassination attempt ‘changed something in me.’
It was a rare moment of introspection from Trump, sprinkled with humor.
Trump noted, ‘God was watching me’ on July 13, 2024, when he was shot and wounded by an assassin’s rifle bullet that clipped his ear during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
He had turned to the side at the last moment to point to a chart on stage that showed the latest immigration numbers in the United States.
‘Immigration saved my life,’ Trump joked, before going on to talk about the bullet that whizzed by his head, striking his right ear.
‘It didn’t affect my hair. Can you believe it? It might have touched it, but not where it counts,’ he said as lawmakers laughed.
‘But it’s still, honestly, it’s a very – it changed something in me. I feel even stronger. I believed in God but I feel much more strongly about it, something happened,’ he said.
It was an unusual moment for the president, who doesn’t publicly show off his faith.
The National Prayer Breakfast is an annual event in the Capitol, where the president of the United States joins lawmakers from both parties for a morning of prayer and reflection.
The breakfast has been a tradition since 1953.
In his remarks at the annual event, Trump called for the return of religion, made a few jokes, and got personal about his faith. He also praised the memory of Billy Graham, mourned those lost in the DCA crash, called for a new air traffic control system and made an appeal for bipartisanship.
He noted ‘God was watching me’ on that day in Pennsylvania and added that the incident even changed his sons, Don Jr. and Eric.
‘God was watching me. The chances of me being here – my sons are shooters. They’re really good shooters, Don and Eric and they said, the chances of missing from that range with that gun are – Don equated it to a one foot putt,’ he said.
He then cracked a joke: ‘That’s pretty bad, two feet, I can see missing.’
He went on to say his eldest son Don ‘he gained some religion. He went up 25% and if you know him, that’s a lot. But he said there had to be somebody that saved you, and I think I know who it is.’
The president also referenced last week’s deadly air crash that resulted in the deaths of 67 people, tying it to his assassination attempt.
‘But that event, like the tragedy last week, should remind us all that we have to make the most out of every single day,’ he said.
He also called on lawmakers to fund a new air traffic control system for the country.
‘I think what is going to happen is we’re all going to sit down and do a great computerized system for our control towers, brand new,’ he said.
‘We have to get together and just as a single bill just pass, where we get the best control system.’
Trump started his speech by calling for the return of religion in the country.
‘We have to bring religion back,’ he said.
‘It’s one of the biggest problems that we’ve had over the last fairly long period of time. We have to bring it back,’ he said.
He also talked about his accomplishments as president in the past three weeks, saying ‘our country is starting to do very well again. It’s happening fast, little faster than people thought.’
He also got in a plug for his proposal to build a National Garden of American Heros. He wants to build a national park featuring statues of great Americans.
He needs Congress to fund the project and teased the lawmakers that he may add some of them to the park.
‘Some of you will be on that soon-to-be hallowed ground. Some of you,’ he said. ‘Let’s see. I can pick a few of you right now, by looking. Here’s a couple of you right now, I can see.’
The lawmakers burst into laughter as Trump scanned the room.
‘It will be something very special, and I hope that Congress will fully fund this wonderfully unifying project at the first possible opportunity,’ he added.
He also shared his memories of the Rev. Billy Graham.
‘He was something,’ he noted. ‘My father used to take me to watch the Crusades. He would take me to Yankee Stadium. I remember so well. I remember it more than I remember any Yankee game. And I’ve seen a lot of Yankee games. Can you believe it? And Billy didn’t have a bat, so, you know, he’s pretty good. It was amazing.’
And he had his own message for the Republicans and Democrats listening to him.
‘Never give up. Never ever give up. You can’t,’ he said. ‘How about me? If I would have given up, I would not be here right now. Who the hell knows where I’d be? It might not be a good place. If it was up to the Democrats. It would not be a good place at all. Never ever give up.’
