Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we already plugged the book. We'll plug it again,
but I just want to get into the story because
it's an amazing story. Author Selena Zito joins us. She's
from Pennsylvania. She was in Butler, Pennsylvania. I assume you're
why were you there to begin with?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Let's start with that, Selena, Well, I cover national politics
for the Washington Examiner and Washington Post, and you know,
last year.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Was the presidential election, and so I was there not
just to cover what was going on and how the
country was shifting, but also I was supposed to interview
President Trump that day. It started out I was going
to interview him five minutes before the event, then five
minutes after, and then the decision was made that I
was going to fly to Bedminster and interview him on
(00:48):
Trump Force one, which was the plane he was using
at that time, Which was why I was so close
to him in the buffer zone, because I would have
to go immediately into the motorcade once the event was over.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
So it was it was almost like divine providence for
you that you had that access to him, especially on
a day like that. You're on the podium when the
shots were fired. Could you hear the shots.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I was just off to the side of the podium.
I was. It's called the buffer. It's usually where you
see seek Secret Service. It's between the stage and the
rally attendees. Oh yes, I mean the shot went right
over my head. I knew immediately what it was. I'm
a gun owner. I saw the blood streak across his face.
(01:35):
I saw him grab his ear. Times seemed to go
in layers. It's hard to explain. And I understood. You said,
divine providence. You know, I wasn't supposed to be where
I was, right, he wasn't supposed to turn his head
when he did. And there's this sense of like, Okay,
I have purpose. I'm supposed to be here. I'm a reporter.
(01:58):
I need to do my job. So I didn't get down,
and there were four more shots after that. After the
Secret Service surrounded him in a protective stance. But I
was still standing until his press aid Michelle. Butcard Iid
literally took me down and laid on top of me
(02:20):
to protect me.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Wow. I know the President's talk quite a bit about
how he believes that he was spared by the hand
of Almighty God. I believe that the vast majority of
the supporters believe the same thing. What do you believe?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Well, you know, interestingly enough, President Trump called me the
next morning, bright and early, asked if I was okay.
He would go on to call me seven times that day.
And it is in those discussions, and it's in the
book where he talked about the hand of God and
he talked about purpose, you know, questioning his purpose going forward,
(03:00):
and that God was telling him that he was saved
for a purpose. And so, you know, I am someone
of faith, and so that is not hard for me
to dispel it all. I could easily see that, and
we would have many conversations throughout the rest of the campaign.
(03:21):
And why the book is so important. It's not just
about that historic day, but it's also about what happened
in this country that was rarely covered with the detail
and importance of purpose, and also how the country changed
(03:45):
because of that moment. Some people call it an awakening.
I'm not qualified to say that, but I certainly saw
a very big difference in my coverage. You know, I
live in western Pennsylvania. I cover the Great Lakes, Midwest Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin,
(04:06):
but also Appalachia and I don't fly and I don't
take interstates, so I cover these political movements from the
ground up and through the people, and I definitely saw
something pivotal happened in that moment.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
You sound like the John Madden of journalism.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I don't like flying. It's just that I miss like.
I'll fly if I have to for personal reasons, but
as a reporter, you missed everything. That's a good point,
Like I'm not going to fly over the entire state
of Ohio. I'm going to miss so many stories.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Again. The neighbor of her book is Butler, The Untold
Story of the near assassination Donald Trump and the fight
for Marcus Heartland. We're almost out of time. I want
to ask you this before we let you go. I
wish we had more time with you, Selena, and that is,
do you believe that we know all there is to
know about the assassination attempt on the president? Or do
you believe there's a lot of information that either hasn't
been discovered or is being withheld.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I think there's a lot of information as this new
administration is taken over that's in discovery, and we're seeing
that start to peel back. A lot of the big problem,
and what happened that day was a lack of communication
between local law enforcements and the Secret Service, the FBI,
everyone there that was supposed to be to protect not
(05:33):
just the president but also the people there. They weren't
communicating and that was a very system wide failure. And
you would think we would have learned that from nine
to eleven. Right, that was part of the big failure.
None of our agencies talk to each other, and yet
here in charge of the president, they're not. Plus they
(05:54):
make arbitrary decisions, you know, between someone who is not
president and someone who is president, and how the breadth
in which they protect them, and I think that's something
that is archaic and needs to be unwound.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Well, Plus there's always the potential of the politics, isn't there.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I wish
I had more time. Thank you, Selena author Selena Zito again.
Their book is called Mother, The Untold Story of the
near Assassination of Donald Trump.
Well, we already plugged the book. We'll plug it again,
but I just want to get into the story because
it's an amazing story. Author Selena Zito joins us. She's
from Pennsylvania. She was in Butler, Pennsylvania. I assume you're
why were you there to begin with?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Let's start with that, Selena, Well, I cover national politics
for the Washington Examiner and Washington Post, and you know,
last year.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Was the presidential election, and so I was there not
just to cover what was going on and how the
country was shifting, but also I was supposed to interview
President Trump that day. It started out I was going
to interview him five minutes before the event, then five
minutes after, and then the decision was made that I
was going to fly to Bedminster and interview him on
(00:48):
Trump Force one, which was the plane he was using
at that time, Which was why I was so close
to him in the buffer zone, because I would have
to go immediately into the motorcade once the event was over.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
So it was it was almost like divine providence for
you that you had that access to him, especially on
a day like that. You're on the podium when the
shots were fired. Could you hear the shots.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I was just off to the side of the podium.
I was. It's called the buffer. It's usually where you
see seek Secret Service. It's between the stage and the
rally attendees. Oh yes, I mean the shot went right
over my head. I knew immediately what it was. I'm
a gun owner. I saw the blood streak across his face.
(01:35):
I saw him grab his ear. Times seemed to go
in layers. It's hard to explain. And I understood. You said,
divine providence. You know, I wasn't supposed to be where
I was, right, he wasn't supposed to turn his head
when he did. And there's this sense of like, Okay,
I have purpose. I'm supposed to be here. I'm a reporter.
(01:58):
I need to do my job. So I didn't get down,
and there were four more shots after that. After the
Secret Service surrounded him in a protective stance. But I
was still standing until his press aid Michelle. Butcard Iid
literally took me down and laid on top of me
(02:20):
to protect me.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Wow. I know the President's talk quite a bit about
how he believes that he was spared by the hand
of Almighty God. I believe that the vast majority of
the supporters believe the same thing. What do you believe?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Well, you know, interestingly enough, President Trump called me the
next morning, bright and early, asked if I was okay.
He would go on to call me seven times that day.
And it is in those discussions, and it's in the
book where he talked about the hand of God and
he talked about purpose, you know, questioning his purpose going forward,
(03:00):
and that God was telling him that he was saved
for a purpose. And so, you know, I am someone
of faith, and so that is not hard for me
to dispel it all. I could easily see that, and
we would have many conversations throughout the rest of the campaign.
(03:21):
And why the book is so important. It's not just
about that historic day, but it's also about what happened
in this country that was rarely covered with the detail
and importance of purpose, and also how the country changed
(03:45):
because of that moment. Some people call it an awakening.
I'm not qualified to say that, but I certainly saw
a very big difference in my coverage. You know, I
live in western Pennsylvania. I cover the Great Lakes, Midwest Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin,
(04:06):
but also Appalachia and I don't fly and I don't
take interstates, so I cover these political movements from the
ground up and through the people, and I definitely saw
something pivotal happened in that moment.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
You sound like the John Madden of journalism.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I don't like flying. It's just that I miss like.
I'll fly if I have to for personal reasons, but
as a reporter, you missed everything. That's a good point,
Like I'm not going to fly over the entire state
of Ohio. I'm going to miss so many stories.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Again. The neighbor of her book is Butler, The Untold
Story of the near assassination Donald Trump and the fight
for Marcus Heartland. We're almost out of time. I want
to ask you this before we let you go. I
wish we had more time with you, Selena, and that is,
do you believe that we know all there is to
know about the assassination attempt on the president? Or do
you believe there's a lot of information that either hasn't
been discovered or is being withheld.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I think there's a lot of information as this new
administration is taken over that's in discovery, and we're seeing
that start to peel back. A lot of the big problem,
and what happened that day was a lack of communication
between local law enforcements and the Secret Service, the FBI,
everyone there that was supposed to be to protect not
(05:33):
just the president but also the people there. They weren't
communicating and that was a very system wide failure. And
you would think we would have learned that from nine
to eleven. Right, that was part of the big failure.
None of our agencies talk to each other, and yet
here in charge of the president, they're not. Plus they
(05:54):
make arbitrary decisions, you know, between someone who is not
president and someone who is president, and how the breadth
in which they protect them, and I think that's something
that is archaic and needs to be unwound.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Well, Plus there's always the potential of the politics, isn't there.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I wish
I had more time. Thank you, Selena author Selena Zito again.
Their book is called Mother, The Untold Story of the
near Assassination of Donald Trump.
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