Trump gives details of his assassination attempt: "It's too painful to tell"

Former United States President Donald Trump recounted for the first and only time how the assassination attempt he experienced occurred last Saturday during a rally in Pennsylvania.

At the closing of the Republican National Convention, after being declared the presidential candidate of the Republican Party, Trump began his speech by thanking the American people for their love and support following the attack, and recalled that "the assassin's bullet was a quarter of an inch away from taking my life."

"Many people have asked me what happened... and therefore, I will tell you what happened, and you will never hear from me about it again, because it is actually too painful to recount," he said.

"Behind me and to the right, there was a large screen displaying a graph of the border crossings under my leadership. The numbers were absolutely astonishing. To see the graph, I started to turn, thus, to my right, and I was ready to make another turn, which I was lucky not to have done, when I heard a loud whistle and felt something hit me, very, very hard, on my right ear," he recounted.

"I said to myself, 'Wow, what was that? It can only be a bullet,' and I moved my right hand to my ear, lowered it, and my hand was covered in blood. There was absolutely blood everywhere. I immediately knew it was very serious, that we were being attacked, and in one motion I proceeded to throw myself to the ground," he added.

The president explained why he decided to raise his fist when the security agents lifted him off the ground, an image that for his supporters and the entire world signifies a gesture of anger and determination at the same time.

"When I got up, surrounded by the Secret Service, the crowd was confused because they thought I was dead, and there was a great, great sadness. I could see it on their faces. I wanted to let them know that I was okay. So I raised my right arm, looked at the thousands and thousands of people waiting breathlessly, and started shouting 'fight, fight, fight,'" he said.

Trump delivered a speech lasting over 90 minutes, in which he paid tribute to the firefighter who died during the attack.