Backstage footage has emerged of the moment before former President Donald Trump took the stage at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.

Trump arrived in the arena shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday and proceeded to listen to a number of speeches, including a very popular speech from wrestling legend Hulk Hogan. Trump appeared to love Hogan’s speech, which was done in his signature raspy, intense voice and included a number of his signature lines.

The former president could be seen beaming ear-to-ear when Hogan ripped off both his jacket and shirt to reveal a Trump-Vance 2024 undershirt.

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Ahead of Trump’s historic entrance, New York Times photographer Doug Mills snapped a photo of the former president and former First Lady Melania Trump. Another reporter captured Trump standing behind the stage prior to his entrance, which was made after the stage design lifted to reveal the former president standing in front of the word “TRUMP” in bright lights.

Melania and Donald Trump tonight backstage at the RNC pic.twitter.com/olqemPLVsR

— FLOTUS Report (@MELANIAJTRUMP) July 19, 2024

As Trump took the stage, he drew attention to the fire gear of slain fire chief Corey Comperatore, who was killed in the assassination attempt in western Pennsylvania this past Saturday.

Trump proceeded to deliver a touching tribute to Comperatore during his speech, describing him as a hero. At one point, he left the podium before walking over to the slain firefighter’s gear before proceeding to kiss it. The former president also led the convention crowd in a moment of silence for Comperatore.

“Let me begin this evening by expressing my gratitude to the American people for your outpouring of love and support following the assassination attempt at my rally on Saturday,” Trump said. “As you already know, the assassin’s bullet came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life. So many people have asked me, ‘what happened? Tell us what happened, please.’ And therefore, I will tell you exactly what happened, and you’ll never hear it from me a second time because it’s actually too painful to tell.”

“We were very proud of it. and to the right was a large screen that was displaying a chart of border crossings under my leadership. The numbers were absolutely amazing. In order to see the chart, I started to, like this, turn to my right, and was ready to begin a little bit further turn, which I’m very lucky I didn’t do, when I heard a loud whizzing sound and felt something hit me really, really hard on my right ear,” Trump continued, recalling the attempt on his life. 

A humbled former President Trump ultimately concluded that he is alive “through the grace of almighty God.”

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