Former President Donald Trump honored firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was murdered in the near-assassination of Trump in July, during his return to Butler, Pennslyvania, on Saturday.
Trump hailed Comperatore –whose wife, Helen, and children were in attendance – as a hero for the actions he took to shield his family from the shooter, sacrificing his life.
“Corey Comperatore was an incredible husband and father, a devout Christian, a veteran, and a proud former fire chief, very respected within the town. Everybody knew him, ” Trump said. “Few men volunteered to run into fires, but Corey was one of those who did. He ran into fires.”
He called Comperatore a “protector who put his life on the line for others, and he loved doing it.”
“And when the sound of gunshots pierced the air on that July evening, Corey leapt into the fire one more time,” he continued. “In his last seconds on this earth, he threw himself on the top of his wife and daughters. He didn’t want them hurt.”
“He gave his life to shield their lives,” Trump emphasized. He said that every man in America would aspire to be as heroic as Comperatore and defend their family as he did in the face of a murderer.
“Every father and husband in America hopes that if the time came, we would have what Corey had: tremendous courage, tremendous guts, and he wanted to protect his family, and he did protect his family,” he added.
At 6:11 p.m., exactly 12 weeks to the moment from when Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on the rally, Trump called for a moment of silence, which was followed by a stunning rendition of “Ave Maria” by opera singer Christopher Macchio.
Trump met with Comperatore’s family immediately after getting off his plane in Bulter before taking the stage, and they shared a group embrace. He praised them as an “incredible family” onstage.
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