I Got the Call, 'Your Dad Was Shot'" | Michael & Donald Trump Jr. EXCLUSIVE

Donald Trump Jr.
I get a call, you know, 615 whatever it was, your dad's been shot. I got ahold of my father and surprisingly calm in the hospital. And, you know, by then I'd already gotten seen the video and sort of him coming up defiant in the face of actual fire. It was sort of amazing. And he just sort of said, you know, hey, man, you're the biggest badass I know. Cause I genuinely believe that.

Michael Knowles
Not 72 hours ago, a 15 degree turn of his head permitted President Donald Trump to survive an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Now, we are all sitting here at the Republican National Convention, and I am sitting down for the first long form interview with the president's son, Donald Trump Junior.

We are able to bring you these kinds of conversations. We're allowed to bring you these facts because of you, because you all subscribe and you support what we're doing at the daily Wire. So today we're very happy to offer you a 47% presidential deal on annual memberships. We want to thank all of our current members, we want to welcome a lot of new members, and we want to honor the man who will be our 47th president. This limited time offer gives you access to uncensored, hard hitting, conservative content you will not find in the establishment media. Go to Dailywire.com, join us in the fight. Use promo code fight to save 47% on your daily wire membership. Donald Trump Junior.

Donald Trump Jr.
Good to be with you, Donald.

Michael Knowles
Thank you for being here.

Donald Trump Jr.
Thank you.

Michael Knowles
It's 06:03 p.m. on Saturday.

Your father takes the stage.

Take me from there.

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah, I wasn't there. I was actually going to be there. I was supposed to be there because I actually thought that's when they were going to do the VP announcement.

And so when I found out it wasn't going on, I was still being negotiated or talked about or whatever it may be. Sort of a long couple of weeks.

I was like, you know what? I'm going to be in Milwaukee. I'm going to be doing nonstop press, media. I'm taking the afternoon off instead of campaigning because I'm going to have pretty much a long sprint till November.

My daughter calls me, hey, can we go fishing? That doesn't usually happen. She's the golfer, so she's always training and practicing and competing and whatever. So it's like, yes, took my daughter out on the boat with a couple of her friends. We went out fishing and I get a call, 615, whatever it was.

Your dad's been shot.

And any other information? No, we don't know anything.

Obviously, immediately get on the phone. I try to call. I guess at that point, they're not sure what the attack is, so they lock down all the cell phones and they jam, whatever it may be. I couldn't get through to anyone. And so literally 90 minutes before I even made contact, I obviously got back in, got all my kids together, made sure everything was secure, and I'm just literally waiting for a phone call to get even any information. Finally, I got ahold of my father and surprisingly calm in the hospital. And by then, I'd already gotten seen the video and sort of him coming up defiant in the face of actual fire.

It was sort of amazing. And he just sort of said, hey, man, you're the biggest badass I know. Cause I genuinely believe that, of course, everyone thinks they're tough until they're actually put in a situation. He actually wasn't. To come out that way, was sort of the most proud I'd ever been of him.

Michael Knowles
So you're on the fishing boat with your daughter, having a lovely.

You know, I was. We were baptizing my youngest son that morning, and so very festive. And I saw a text come through, shots at Trump rally. Then I see a text, Trump shot. Then I get a phone call, get to the studio. No one knows what's going on.

And I don't think it's an exaggeration to say, had your father been assassinated, it could have led to civil war.

Donald Trump Jr.
Oh, I mean, yeah. The amount of.

Honestly, Michael, what's really interesting, sort of the amount of reasonable people I know that are professionals and successful that are so frustrated with the world we are.

Imagine the people who are getting crushed by this economy.

There's a. I think, you know, that's not.

It's not an exaggeration. It's not like, oh, that. I think that could very well be real. And I'm not encouraging that, and neither are you, because someone's gonna say, but, like, you know, but there's civil unrest for a real thing.

Michael Knowles
And the reason I even mention it is so much depends upon a 15 degree turn of the head. When I went back, you know, obviously, you weren't getting any information for 90 minutes.

Everyone's trying to.

He just turns his head, like a nanosecond before the shot is. And so I think I'm just a man who admires your father. I'm just a man who supports his campaigns. You're his son, and you're watching this happen, and you think, you know, but for the grace of God.

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah. By the way, total like, I can't think of anything other than divine intervention. Right? I don't. I don't believe in that much luck or coincidence anymore. Yeah, that was amazing, by the way. Also, I come from a competitive shooting background. I mean, you know, 140 yard shot, that's. That's like a six inch putt, right? That's. That's almost impossible to miss. And so to be able to move that way and that it just at that exact instant, you know, literally the speed of a bullet, just. It.

Michael Knowles
So to what do you attribute it? It is.

Donald Trump Jr.
You.

Michael Knowles
You mean that literally divine intervention?

Donald Trump Jr.
Oh, I mean, I. I do. I see, like, you know, and I'm not, you know, not a hyper spiritual guy. It's not. But, man, that makes you wonder. You know, I kept just watching sort of once, sort of actually remarkably calm for the first, you know, till I actually spoke to him. And then I finally, you know, got my kids settled and tried to, you know, I'm trying to explain to, you know, a ten year old that her grandfather was just shot in the face. It's, you know, it's. These are conversations you hope to never have to have, even if it sort of worked out, you know, in a good way, but you're doing that. Then you actually sit down and sort of. That the adrenaline dump hits you, and it was just like.

Michael Knowles
Were you speaking to your siblings while this was.

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. The call to my father, I couldn't get through. I couldn't get through. Finally, I got through to my brother. He's like, hey, I just got through. Puts me on speakerphone. So it's me and my brother Kim's there. My ex wife was there. My kids are there. Like, everyone sort of.

Most of the family's just on speaker. I'd spoken to Ivanka a few seconds before that.

You know, we're just on speakerphone, you know, talking to him. He was just, you know, very calm, collected. It got to the point where it was like almost.

He sort of needed that icebreaker. So me, I'm usually the inappropriate guy. So I was like, so, you know, how's the hair?

How's the hair, daddy? The hair's fine, but it's a little bloody. There's a little blood in the hair, but the hair's fine.

So we had a little moment of levity there. Yeah, yeah.

But, yeah, no, it was a somber moment.

Michael Knowles
And then what's so striking, I just got here to the RNC. You've obviously been here a little bit longer.

There's this feeling of. It seems like jubilance or a lot of gratitude. A lot of people, obviously, this is.

Donald Trump Jr.
I'm seeing grown men in tears.

Michael Knowles
Yeah, I got misty eyed.

Donald Trump Jr.
I got misty eyed. Yeah.

It's amazing, actually. And it's such a contrast, I'm going to say, you know, 2020 was sort of, you know, digital. It didn't, you know, it was remote, so it wasn't there. But in 16, it was very different. Yeah, I mean, I almost got in fist fight on the floor with a senator because, you know, they were, he happens to be a good friend of mine now, but at the time, he was a Ted Cruz guy and he didn't know what we were coming. It was with Mike Lee. You know, now he's one of my favorite senators. He's a great guy, actually. We hang out, but, like, literally about to get a defense fight with a us senator on the floor of the convention and people did.

Michael Knowles
Now he looks even tougher with that shaved head.

Donald Trump Jr.
Shaved, shaved head and stuff like that.

Wiry. I think I can take him.

Michael Knowles
But it's a very different.

Donald Trump Jr.
But it's different. Then I get it. You had this sort of unknown entity that was not a DC guy. It wasn't in politics, wasn't this that sort of took it by storm.

A lot of people make a lot of money in politics and have a lot of vested interests. They're not sure what's going on.

So, you know, walking in there the other day was just blown away. I mean, the support is amazing. You're literally seeing, even just for me, like grown men, you see them go to shake your hand and you just see them like, well up and it's.

Michael Knowles
Like, yeah, yeah, history does seem to touch people, you know, in that I voted for your father happily in 2016. I voted for him happily again in 2020, I was going to vote for him happily again this time. It does seem that this is different now, that this is even more significant than it was. I wonder, in your mind, maybe in your father's mind, does the assassination attempt change anything about the campaign or about the vision for 2024?

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah, you know, I think, you know, once you get shot in the face, it puts things into perspective, perhaps a little bit different, I imagine. It certainly does. I know on Friday, the day before he was shot, I spent 4 hours with my father going through his speech and let's just say that's been thrown away and starting from scratch. It's just a different tone now. My father's.

I just did this thing with axios. Well, is he going to be. I was like, I think you can tone someone down, but if you're also constantly attacked, what makes Trump successfully is that he fights back. He doesn't just take those things. Right. So he's always going to be a fighter. That doesn't mean you can't change a tone. Most of the time, you're still going to be out there. I sort of dealt with this. The one negative experience I had on the floor yesterday was MSNBC reporter. I mean, I'm out there with my brother. We're literally throwing him over, giving the 125 Florida delegates. We're throwing my father over. So he's actually the nominee, and it's about to go official. And the guy starts off, so with all your father's hatred, and this is he bringing that back?

Hatred and chaos, wasn't that created by you guys? I mean, you guys were the ones that push Russia collusion. You're the ones that vilifies half the country. You're the ones calling us Nazis and fascists. And he's the biggest threat to democracy in the world. I'm like, that was you, not him. I mean, if he responds, you have to respond to that. You can't be called a traitor and not respond. And then he goes off on, well, he put children in cages. I go, you mean the Obama cages, right? And he loses his mind.

And I just said, you know what? Like, get out of there. No, you're a clown. I say, you're a clown.

You couldn't even wait 48 hours to go back to your DNC talking points to your nonsense. You couldn't even do 48 hours after my father was shot in the face. So, you know, I guess the clip went fairly viral, but they can't control themselves.

It's miraculous. And we're never gonna, we're never gonna change the tone responding to that kind of idiocy. No, nor should we.

Michael Knowles
I'm sure you saw a lot of the clips of prominent liberals, leftists, of campaign and Hollywood types, political flacks and Hollywood types, celebrating at first and then saying, doggone it, next time they better.

Donald Trump Jr.
Not miss far too much of it.

If that was coming from our side, those people would never see it. They'd be thrown out of polite society.

They'd be canceled, and probably rightfully so. You know, it's one thing to have an opinion, it's another to do that. So even in the face of that, they can't help themselves.

Michael Knowles
You know, you and your father and your whole family have been, I think, extraordinarily gracious in the last 72 hours, if I were you and a man. President of the United States spent years calling my father Hitler, saying that he admires Nazis, that he, in a way, is a Nazi, or at least resembles them, and that he poses an existential threat to democracy. And then my father was nearly murdered.

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah.

Michael Knowles
Let's just say I won't even finish my sentence.

Donald Trump Jr.
I showed what would be probably an uncharacteristic level of restraint, given what was going through my mind at that time. But, you know, I guess that's the response they're trying to elicit anyway. So I'm not going to satisfy that.

That urge, though, it would have felt great.

Michael Knowles
Yes, yes. And I saw an interview with the current president, trying desperately after, really. I guess this began with that disastrous debate performance, and then now his campaign's collapsed, but he lost his train of thought. And he said, well, my generic point is Shyamala Hamilah.

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah. You know the thing.

Michael Knowles
You know, you know the thing. And then it occurred to me, well, of course, he can no longer articulate any point of the campaign because the point of the campaign, he said from the beginning, I am running because Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, an existential threat to our country. If he can't say that anymore after that kind of language has led to certain incidents. Yeah, what's he going to say?

Donald Trump Jr.
Well, it's not like they can campaign on the economy.

It's not like they've created world peace. They've created more wars than, you know, anyone in modern history and allowed them to happen. And that's the reality. Right. When you exude weakness, the world sees it. Enemies. That's the, I will say it's sort of the nature of predation, right? Predators prey on the weak.

When America is being led by adult, of course it's gonna happen. That's why we're in these wars. That's why it's not ever gonna stop. It's insanity. And so, you know, I'm sure they'll be back to that because no one out there in the media is going to hold them accountable. They all feel the same way, but it's nonsense because nothing screams democracy like trying to jail your political opponents, to bankrupt them, to fine them and put.

Michael Knowles
Them in dangerous situations.

Donald Trump Jr.
Put them in dangerous situations. And by the way, again, the whole thing is, it's absolutely crazy. I mean, they're going to lose that talking point for about a week, but I'm sure they'll be right back at it after, after their convention. And the media will let it slide or they'll come up with some sort of way to justify it because they either believe it or it's convenient.

Michael Knowles
There's a bill right now in the House of Representatives pushed by someone named Benny Thompson, a Democrat congressman from Mars, I think. I'm not sure exactly where this guy's from. One of his staffers was among those who wished that the shooter would hit next time.

This bill would deprive your father of secret service protection. It was obviously designed strictly to target him. So that's still sitting in Washington, DC.

Donald Trump Jr.
It's still sitting in Washington, DC. His staffer said those things.

What do we think they actually think? I mean, they're right there with the Hollywood people. They may not say it out loud, but their staffers have. And, you know, it's crazy. And again, it's not like they've presented anything that's great for the american people or they've, you know, I can't think of a metric. Hey, I was a real estate developer before all of this insanity. That was a lot easier.

You know, I used to say, I'm not getting attacked every day by the press and all this. Now we're also not getting shot at for it.

And so I'd love for them to be successful. I'd love for that. As a father of five young kids, I want them to grow up in America. They recognize that. So I'd love not to have to be in that game. But we have no choice because they're failing on, you know, across the board.

Michael Knowles
Right.

Donald Trump Jr.
It's an abject disaster. And I think everyone sees it. And it's why, you know, it's why I'm seeing so many, frankly, people from our, who are not Republicans, who are not from the demographics, you'd think, who are not that come up to me on a daily basis, be like, okay, I was wrong. We've had enough. We've had enough, right? Please get back at it.

Michael Knowles
It's a good point you make, too, because you often hear this from republican politicians. They say, I wish I didn't have to be in politics. And they all want to be in politics. But when it comes from you guys, the Trump family has been very rich and famous since before I was born. So, you know, in a sense, it rings much truer because you really could just have a very comfortable, pleasant life, you know?

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah, I was joking with my father. He's the only person who ever sent to the presidency who actually got a downgrade to public housing.

It's obvious.

Michael Knowles
Transportation.

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah, it's a little tongue in cheek, but not really wrong.

Michael Knowles
So you've had this past career real estate developer, obviously helping run the Trump organization tv.

Now, though, you are a political advisor. And just yesterday, the VP pick was announced. I think it was an excellent pick, a pick that I had been rooting for, and I know a pick that you had been rooting for, if the reports are to be believed. So those reports are true. And those reports are true.

Donald Trump Jr.
Great. A lot of folks fake news, but those are not false.

Michael Knowles
So you saw something in JD Vance early on. Maybe some of your father's other advisors liked other people.

Why JD?

Donald Trump Jr.
Well, first of all, I've gotten to know him over the last couple years, but I read his book when it first came out, and I was like, that's a guy you need in politics.

Hillbilly elegy. The story of just coming from, literally, Appalachia and just growing into a business one after the other. It loved his military service, but it was a right out of high school military service. Not like, okay, I'm a consultant at McKinsey, and then I'm gonna go check that box so that I can run for office one day.

It's like a different motivation when you're doing it in high school before you know what direction you're going with anything else.

Michael Knowles
Yeah, yeah.

Donald Trump Jr.
But, you know, seeing reality is seeing the way he'll go on CNN and Ms NBC, and he'll go into, like, hostile territory and just destroy these people. I mean, he does a better job in hostile territory prosecuting the case for sort of the America first movement for MAGA than the best republicans do on, like, Fox News when they're, like, pitching t ball, you know, and I'm just like, that's a guy that can resonate. He can break through. You know, when you talk about sort of the rust belt and you talk about sort of the electoral map, this is someone who can play in there. And, you know, it's interesting because, you know, all these, so many of the haters, and you gotta remember, even a lot of the political advisory, they're on someone's payroll and no one knows. So they tell my father something, but they omit the important details.

They tell him just enough to get the answer that they want, but not the right answer.

Michael Knowles
Of course.

Donald Trump Jr.
Politics is a disgusting game. I was dealing with that for the last couple months as it related to this. I'm like, well, did you know this? I was like, oh, no one told me. That seems like a big one. He goes, what's going on?

It's so sick.

And that's all from our side, frankly.

Michael Knowles
These are lobbyists for other candidates.

Donald Trump Jr.
The trillionaire faction of the party, the neocons. You had the rhinos. And it's like, and my father's a guy that will listen to everyone. He'll give everyone a sort of a seat at the table and chant. But like, when they're just so flagrantly lying and they have an agenda or they're being paid to basically lobby for someone, even if they'd be terrible, it's like just filtering through that. So I think it's just a huge win for America first. I think it's a huge loss for the warmongers in Washington, DC.

I couldn't be more psyched.

Michael Knowles
I also love that it's oriented toward the future. I mean, JD Vance is decades younger than your father. Obviously almost 40 years younger, I think.

So your father could have picked someone around his age as kind of a wallflower, balance out the ticket or something. But he didn't. He picked a guy who's, who's got really formed views, who's very intelligent, very articulate, young, energetic. So what your father and your whole family have done to the republican party has been reported as a change, a radical departure. In some ways that's true. But I think of it more as a restoration, correct, of the Republican Party in those early days on things like trade, on things like immigration, on things like foreign policy. The Trump view is actually a more traditionally conservative view than much of what we've seen in recent decades. So tell me if I'm wrong. It seems to me the JD pick is 20, 282-032-2036 for me, as someone.

Donald Trump Jr.
With young kids again, I want to have a country we recognize. I don't want it to be, well, it was manga for four years, and then we went back to the old ways.

So I love that you can have a guy that can be a leader in that movement going forward who can carry that torch, not someone who's like, okay, four years of peace and prosperity, back to war. Cause there's no money in peace for the swamp creatures.

And so that's so critical for me. I want this to be a twelve year run of that, and then we'll figure out whoever's, whoever's next. But I think you're right. You're going back to the waves. But more importantly, I think you're going back to actually listening to your constituents.

So many of these guys in Washington, they get voted in to prosecute the case for their people, then they get to DC. And then they do the opposite of what their people want, and then they change their tune around election time and they go back to do it. Just having someone who's actually willing to fight for the will of the people who put them into office rather than just take the easy route and just conform to the swamp, I think that's a really huge deal as well. And that's something that's been missing from our party.

I think there was an apathy from our voters. Even when they see it, it's like, oh, no, it's not even worth Trump changed that.

I think this gives sort of Trumpism MAGA America first, however you want to call it, a real great leg into the future.

Michael Knowles
So, speaking of personnel, I'm not asking you to cast your father's administration number 47, but surely some people come to mind that you could envision being important leaders.

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah, you know, I think, you know, I've also said, hey, I want to be on the transition team, but it's not to put a single person into power. It's to stop the scumbags from ascending to power. Right.

Michael Knowles
Just as important as putting people more important.

Donald Trump Jr.
Listen, I think the guys that sort of tell you what you want to hear, but then do the opposite or slow roll something, or, you know, in politics, in business, it was always like, you sort of understand what people's motivation is, right? Whether it's wealth creation or money, whatever. You kind of understand where they're at. So in politics, it's like people will sell out their cause to get a good story written about them that they'll leverage into some sort of other next position that they're ultimately leads to a board seat at Raytheon.

So that's all crazy. My whole thing is like, I just want to stop the scumbags. And now that we've been in there for four years, and more importantly, now that we've even had four years out watching how people react, see how they are as it relates to my father and the movement and the people, once they think, hey, well, Trump's out of it, 2021, 2022. So they go back to the old ways. It's like, that's a guy that's just telling me what we want to hear. Let's just make sure they don't have a seat at the table.

Michael Knowles
It's a great point on politics and business, not that I have a lot of business experience. I think you've had considerably more. But I have a cigar company, a few other things, and I noticed I was in politics first, and then I have this little cigar company, and in business you just incentives line up and you just kind of figure it out and it's good for you.

Donald Trump Jr.
It can be vicious, but not like politics.

Michael Knowles
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Any given president can replace 4000 to 5000 of them.

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah, the plumb book is like 4000 jobs.

Michael Knowles
Yeah. You really, what would you have to replace? 40 to 50,000 to start to get a handle on things?

You don't need to answer. Of course, there were a lot of, I think there were 40,000 people who ran for president in 2024. And so you got a lot of candidates. Do some people come to mind?

Donald Trump Jr.
I think you definitely do. You ultimately need people who are tough enough to actually go in there and not get enveloped by that bureaucracy. The people who are tough enough to try to get rid of some of the bureaucrats who are not the elected or appointed positions, but the people that have been in there forever that slow everything down, create the bureaucratic red tape in Washington DC that have no outside experience. So I'd love to bring in a lot of people, frankly, from the outside who have been successful outside of the swamp, not creations of it.

And so I think there's a lot of, there is a lot of talent, I think, that'll be willing to do that now much more than they would have in 16. Right.

It's no longer verboten to say I'm having leftists that I know sending me pictures. I'm seeing people wearing MAGA hats in San Francisco. It's just a change. I think people have watched the last year as they understand our government's failed across the board to have people who aren't just creations of that.

I think there's a lot of people I'd go from the business space and otherwise that I think we would certainly look at to head up some of these things, to have a change, to have a different perspective because the same old sort of Washington DC groupthink hasn't served us all that well.

Michael Knowles
Of course, it's amazing I'm even stepping out of myself here in this conversation in that we're having for the last five minutes a very normal conversation about politics. Oh, we'll replace these people or others.

When less than three days ago, american history almost took a major turn. The thing that got me to think of it, as you say, there are new people who are attracted to us. And I wonder what is that attributable? Is it because Biden's been a total failure and pretty much everyone recognizes it, including democrats? Is it because your father destroyed biden at that debate? And it was just very clear what the options are?

Is some of it because despite all the hot rhetoric that we've seen, people actually had to come to terms with the fact that there might have been a world into 2024 without Donald Trump and it changed their view.

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah, I think all of those things. I think the response under fire, coming back defiant, that screams America, right? That's, and again, everyone's a badass on the Internet these days, covered that. Everyone's a tough guy. Everyone's behind a keyboard. Everyone's a tough guy after getting shot. To still be a tough guy, that says something. I mean, that's the kind of leadership that keeps us out of wars. That's the kind of leadership and resolve that stops despots from invading their neighbors.

That's so critical and it's so clear that it's missing right now. So I think people get that, but it's just across the board.

I'm the son of a billionaire from Manhattan, Michael.

If I go to McDonald's with my kids, I took my two sons this summer, it's like dollar 48.

Me, an eleven year old and a 14 year old. And I was like, yeah, yeah.

If I have sticker shock at McDonald's, I'm not saying it's changing my habits. I'm not one of these, like, you know, the leftist where they do the, my two year old was crying about nuclear proliferation on the korean peninsula. I'm like, it didn't hang up. Like, if I'm pissed off at McDonald's cause I think it's too expensive. Yes, it's a problem.

Michael Knowles
That's a problem.

Donald Trump Jr.
Everyone gets it now. They've had, you know, it's also different than most politics where you're used to, hey, you know, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna create world peace and everyone's gonna be a billionaire. We've had four years, or will have had four years under both presidents when we vote. Yeah, when were you better off?

You know, when was your life on a better trajectory?

Michael Knowles
Right.

Donald Trump Jr.
Like, it's sort of a no brainer. Like, it's a no brainer.

Michael Knowles
It's funny because as you say, all of that, I think that picture of your dad getting up and say, fight, fight, fight. And then now what? It's an overused word, but it's apt here. And it's an iconic photograph with it.

Donald Trump Jr.
Oh, yeah. That's gonna make the mug shot look like some kid drew it with a crayon. You know what I mean? It's totally like, it. Really? I thought that was pretty damn iconic.

Michael Knowles
It could have been painted by a renaissance paint. It could have been done by Michelangelo.

Donald Trump Jr.
The Sistine Chapel of modern photography, modern politics.

Michael Knowles
So that is what would get me.

I've heard some people say I was already going to crawl over broken glass. Now I'm going to eat broken glass.

But for a lot of people, I suspect it's also those kitchen table issues. The fact that you have to take out a second mortgage to go to McDonald's now and all the rest of it.

Biden has really had no response to this. I think this is why you hear all this rhetoric about how Trump's, you know, the worst person ever, big threat to the democracy, whatever.

Biden says he spoke to your father after the shooting.

Do you have any insight into that?

Donald Trump Jr.
You don't? I actually don't. It's, you know, better that way. Yeah, you know, I don't want to, you know, I'll get subpoenaed. I've done 50 hours of congressional testimony for treason. I understand I'm nothing. The upstanding citizen that Hunter Biden is I know that I'm a terrible human being. According to the.

Michael Knowles
When are you going to be invited to a ukrainian?

Donald Trump Jr.
Yeah, exactly.

Crackhead hunter can be running things de facto behind the scenes at the White House, and no one has a problem with that. But I've heard that. But if I heard a conversation, even in the background, I'll get subpoenaed and be testifying. So I'd rather not know. So I actually have no insight into it whatsoever.

Michael Knowles
If I. Look, if your father's public statements are representative of his private statements, I'm sure he was very gracious on the call. I might not have been if I were in his position.

Donald Trump Jr.
No, listen, again, it's.

You gotta question so much of that. Right? How does a shooter get inside of 150 yards? It doesn't feel like that's just a little lapse. And again, I'm not gonna be the guy that gets conspiratorial, but I don't think it's conspiratorial. It's just abject fact.

Yeah. How does that happen?

Michael Knowles
You know, we now hear that the Secret Service detail has been beefed up around your father. But my question is, why did it have to be beefed up?

Donald Trump Jr.
Correct.

Michael Knowles
Why was it?

Donald Trump Jr.
And again, I know what these guys do. I had one for four years when my father was a thing. I've watched it for eight years.

And more importantly, even if it was, he's been the presumptive nominee for a while.

He was certainly the presumptive nominee on Saturday.

Michael Knowles
He was the presumptive nominee in January of 2021.

Donald Trump Jr.
So.

Yeah.

Makes you ask some questions, right?

Michael Knowles
It certainly does.

Donald Trump Jr.
I hope that, you know, I hope there's people actually pushing to get those real answers, because as a, let's call it calm, but really, really pissed off son.

Michael Knowles
Yeah.

Donald Trump Jr.
Kind of want to know.

Michael Knowles
There was a former, another former republican president had a line in a different context. 20 years ago. He said that he was filled with a quiet, unyielding anger. That's kind of how I felt seeing these things play out, and I'm sure you felt it ten times over. The homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, says he has 100% confidence in the director of the us secret service. Director of the secret service says he.

Donald Trump Jr.
Thinks the border's shut down. So I don't think anything that Alejandro Mallorca says is true or means anything. I don't take it. It means nothing to me, what he says, because I think he's just a liar and he's done more damage, killed more people, probably, than any person in american history with what he's allowed to happen down at that border between fentanyl, between just the crime, between the gangs coming through. So, honestly, whatever he says means nothing to me.

Michael Knowles
Yeah, fair.

Donald Trump Jr.
But I also want an investigation that's not led by the FBI, because I don't think that anything that they would do would be, you know, unbiased or.

Michael Knowles
You know, when I heard this from.

Donald Trump Jr.
Sort of like, you know, OJ searching for the killer, just working in a circle, right? It's a little, you know, it's like, come on, guys. Like, yeah, you're the guys that think that concerned mothers at PTA meetings are the greatest domestic terror threat in America, but.

Michael Knowles
And that spied on your father's first care.

Donald Trump Jr.
Of course, my father was right. And then they remember the outrage of that. He goes, man. Cause my dad's a business guy. He's like, it just seems odd. Like, the only way we get to this fact said, if this is going on. How dare you say that? Oh, it turns out they were. All the conspiracy theories turn out to be 100% true. Usually three or four years later, right.

Michael Knowles
When Mayorkas came out, and I agree with you, if Mayorkas told me the sky's blue, I'd start to question.

But the secret service director then also came out and she said, the buck stops with me. I'm responsible, but I have no plans to quit my job.

Yeah.

Donald Trump Jr.
Because again, they say all these things, but there's no. It's government, there's no accountability.

It's never anyone's fault.

You know, there's always an excuse. You know, I know they have an incredible, you know, dei hiring policy for, you know, let's make sure we, like the rest of our military, we wonder why there's a recruitment crisis. Because, you know, people don't exactly want to sign up when they're being led by a trans admiral that is only there because they checked off the boxes. You know, I get it.

Michael Knowles
Yelling about white rage.

Donald Trump Jr.
It doesn't feel like. Yeah, yeah, I'd never even heard of white rage, but I was like, you know, once I heard that, I was like. And I have rage. So I guess now I know. Yes, now I know. But, you know, it's insane what's happening in our country. And I think people just want to return to normalcy, to common sense, which is not at all common anymore. And, you know, I think we have a great chance to do that.

Michael Knowles
I agree. I think you're. And I think really, everyone here is channeling what easily could be rage if it were on the left, it would be expressed as rage into something really productive, really beautiful, I think really grateful and focused on the future at 2428-3236.

Donald Trump Jr.
Like that meme kept going, and the left is just the crying.

Michael Knowles
Yes, Don, you've got a lot of people to talk to. Thank you.

Donald Trump Jr.
Appreciate it. Thanks a lot, Mike.

Michael Knowles
God blessed.

I Got the Call, 'Your Dad Was Shot'" | Michael & Donald Trump Jr. EXCLUSIVE

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1: The Call

2: Response and Reflection

3: Political Impact

4: Media and Public Perception

5: Looking Forward

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