Former US President Donald Trump.
Credit: Reuters Photo
An audio clip of former US president and Republican candidate Donald Trump cracking a controversial joke about the firefighter, who was killed in shooting at his Pennsylvania rally, has come to fore.
According to a report by The Guardian, it has accessed a 12-minute recording of Trump's speech at a private fundraising event on August 10 in Aspen, Colorado.
Recounting his meeting with the deceased firefighter's widow Helen, Trump said that when he handed a cheque to her for a million dollar as compensation, she said, albeit praising the move, that she would rather have her husband. The Republican candidate tried to humour the audience over this anecdote and said, "Now, I know some of the women in this room wouldn’t say the same.”
The gunfire at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally in July where an assassination attempt was made on Trump, killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore, a fire chief who authorities said died protecting family members. Two other bystanders were hit, suffering injuries.
As per the report, Trump told the audience that after the incident, member of his Florida golf club, Mar-a-Lago asked him to provide monetary help to Comperatore's kin.
“I said absolutely and they gave me a cheque for a million dollars. That’s a lot of money. Maybe even more impressively we put out a GoFundMe and we raised more than $6m for the group that got hurt, which is essentially three people," he can be heard saying in the recording.
Based on Helen's response over this gesture Trump said, “So they’re going to get millions of dollars but the woman, the wife, this beautiful woman, I handed her the cheque – we handed her the cheque – and she said, ‘This is so nice, and I appreciate it, but I’d much rather have my husband.’ Now, I know some of the women in this room wouldn’t say the same.”
The guests at the event reportedly erupted in laughter over the remark and Trump further added, “I know at least four couples. There are four couples, Governor [Abbott], that I know and you’re not one of them. At least four couples here would have been thrilled, actually.”
Trump also reportedly made several anti-immigrant remarks and attacked Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said that this “could be the last election we ever have” if she wins the presidential race.