The two men who survived the assassination attempt on former President Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, are placing the blame squarely on the Secret Service.
James Copenhaver, 74, and David Dutch, 57, sat down with NBC News for an interview that aired Monday to share their experiences and the emotions they went through. Dutch said his anger overrode everything else.
“I was more mad about it than anything,” Dutch said. “I mean, I was in the service, went through a war, didn’t even get a scratch. And yet, go to a rally and you get shot at in the crowd.”
Asked what he was specifically mad about, Dutch said: “The security.”
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L-R: David Dutch and James Copenhaver. (Facebook; Family Handout)
Copenhaver, who now walks with a cane, said he realized something was wrong when “I saw part of my sleeve go away and heard [gunshot noises].”
“I heard it distinctly and then I turned around to my friend and said, ‘I think I was shot,’” he said.
Both men were injured by gunfire after a lone gunman opened fire on Trump from a nearby rooftop just minutes into the Republican candidate’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Trump’s ear was grazed as he ducked to avoid the hail of bullets, but the gunfire struck multiple attendees, including Corey Comperatore, who died while shielding his family from bullets.
A fireman’s coat belonging to the late Corey Comperatore is erected among the crowd at a rally for former President Donald Trump in Butler, PA on Saturday, October 5, 2024. (Matthew McDermott for Fox News Digital)
Copenhaver was shot twice: one bullet tore into his tricep, while the other is still lodged in his body, leaving him with nerve damage – something likened to somebody “taking a cigarette and burning right” in his leg.
The bullet that struck Dutch split his liver. He compared it to getting hit with a “sledgehammer right in the chest.”
“I could feel my ribs were all busted up,” Dutch told NBC News.
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The assassination attempt put the Secret Service under intense scrutiny for its failure to detect the threat and prevent it from happening. The scrutiny heightened after Trump survived yet another assassination attempt by a lone gunman who was spotted hiding in the shrubbery near Trump’s golf course in Florida where the former president was playing a round.
Asked if he believed the Secret Service failed them and the president in Butler, Dutch replied: “Oh yes, big time.”
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
“It was a rush job. It was put together too quickly, and they skipped steps,” Copenhaver said.
On Sunday, a man was arrested on gun charges outside Trump’s Coachella rally in California. The man, 49-year-old Vem Miller, told Fox News Digital he reported the guns to authorities. He said he always travels with the guns, but never uses them. He argued that documents Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said were fake are legit.
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His arrest on gun charges sparked speculation, following two assassination attempts on Trump since July. But he was quickly released on $5,000 bail and so far, no federal charges have been filed.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. Secret Service for a response to the interview.
Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, political issues, and much more.
