'Horrified' Ivanka Trump Says Seeing Donald Trump Get Shot In 2024 Was 'Incredibly Difficult' 

Ivanka Trump spoke about the July 2024 assassination attempt on her father in a rare interview on British entrepreneur Steven Bartlett’s “The Diary of a CEO” podcast, describing the experience as a moment that "changed everything forever.”

While speaking at a campaign rally, then-candidate Donald Trump was shot and wounded in the upper part of his right ear by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Thomas fired eight rounds from an AR-15–style rifle from a nearby rooftop outside the security perimeter.

One rally attendee, Corey Comperatore, was killed while shielding his family. Two others, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, were critically injured but survived.

Secret Service counter-snipers killed Thomas within seconds of his first shot. Donald infamously raised his fist and mouthed "Fight! Fight! Fight!" as he was escorted offstage.

Ivanka was at her home in Bedminster, New Jersey, with her televisions on when the news broke. She saw the events unfold almost immediately while two of her children were with her.

“It was before he had stood back up that I had seen what was transpiring, and two of my children were there. My first reaction was to turn them away. It was incredibly difficult,” she explained.

Despite the horror of seeing him shot, she noted an "interesting" sensation of knowing in real-time that he would be okay.

She stated, "I just knew it wasn't his time," even as she felt "horrified and scared" for her family.

“Interestingly, I knew in real time in that moment that he was fine. I just knew it wasn’t his time. I was horrified and scared and protective of my children, but I also didn’t believe the worst possible outcome had transpired. And thank God it hadn’t,” she said.

She and her husband, Jared Kushner, stayed up until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. to meet her dad’s car as he returned to Bedminster from the hospital that night.

“We were with him that night when he came home from the hospital because he was also staying [in Bedminster],” she said. “It was late, like, one o’clock, two in the morning. Jared and I stayed up, and we met his car as he was pulling in. I just feel incredibly lucky that he was protected on that day. You can’t take things for granted, and I’ve learned that in numerous ways, that being one of them.”

The president's eldest daughter, 44, reflected that the event led her to "recommit to love and connection" and sparked a deeper recognition of how short life can be.

“We were so fortunate that day that this was a failed attempt to take his life, not a realized one,” Ivanka said. “But you sort of recommit to love and connection and to a recognition of how short our time here on earth is and how you have to value it.”

While many offered Ivanka condolences following the event, some accused her of crying crocodile tears and questioned her sincerity about what they deemed a dubious assassination attempt.

As for those who seek to harm her father, she said, “There’s a lot of sickness there, and I think that forgiveness is a difficult thing in this regard … but [Trump’s] living is a blessing.”

In the aftermath of the July 13, 2024, rally in Butler, Penn., various conspiracy theories surfaced claiming the assassination attempt on Donald was staged or that he was never actually hit by a bullet.

Some social media users claimed Donald used a "blood pill" or that the event was orchestrated to boost his poll numbers.

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura said it may have been staged for the then-presidential candidate to come off as a hero and boost his chances of beating his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris.