Trump Boasts About Writing a Check to Widow of Man Killed During Assassination Attempt: ‘I Already Gave the Wife a Million Dollars’

(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

Former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump boasted about writing a million dollar check to the widow of Corey Comperatore during a recent interview with New York Magazine‘s Olivia Nuzzi, musing that “she [Mrs. Comperatore] couldn’t believe it.”

Comperatore was shot and killed while shielding his family after an assassin opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July.

In her write-up of her conversation with Trump, Nuzzi said that “most of all” she “wanted to know how he felt about a God that would intervene to spare his life but take the life of another man — Corey Comperatore, 50, husband and father of two children — and seriously wound two others. Had he thought about it?”

Here’s how she recounted the rest of their back-and-forth on the topic:

“Yeah,” he said. He talked for a while about Corey and what a big fan of his he was. And he talked about how a friend of his had given a million dollars to Corey’s wife, and how they had set up a fundraiser for the families, and how they had raised $5 million or $6 million. He kept talking and talking about the money. “I already gave the wife a million dollars, and she was great. I mean, look, she couldn’t believe it, but she would rather have her husband.” The check, he said for the second time now, was for a million dollars. “I don’t care how successful, it’s a check for a million dollars,” he said. “And I gave it to her. She was — she couldn’t believe it.”

I tried again. Had he wondered why he was spared and Corey Comperatore was not?

“No, I haven’t wondered why. I should wonder why,” he said. He looked off and he seemed to really be thinking. “I’ve been so — I’ve been working very hard on the campaign, and I also run a business during the time that I’m here, you know, with my family. It’s a great business. It’s an incredible business. But I am involved in running that, but mostly it’s the campaign because, you know, you have to do that. That’s got to be the focus. And my children run the business now and do a good job. Eric runs it, and Don helps him and runs it, also different aspects of it.” He was still looking off. “But no, I’ve never asked myself that. I’ve never thought of it. I don’t like thinking about it too much, because it’s almost like you have to get on with your life. So I don’t really like thinking about that too much.”

At the Republican National Convention in July, Comperatore’s firefighting gear was displayed on stage as Trump delivered his speech accepting the GOP nomination.

“Tragically, the shooter claimed the life of one of our fellow Americans: Corey Comperatore. Unbelievable person, everybody tells me. Unbelievable,” said Trump in his remarks. “He was incredible. Yeah. He was a highly respected former fire chief. Respected by everybody. Was accompanied by his wife, Helen. Incredible woman. I spoke to her today. Devastated. And two precious daughters. He lost his life selflessly acting as a human shield to protect them from flying bullets. He went right over the top of them and was hit. What a fine man he was.”