Father Jason Charron, the priest who led the invocation at the Butler Farm Show Grounds on the day shots were fired at President Donald Trump during a campaign rally last July 13, told Newsmax Sunday that he believes it was a "divine sign" that Trump was not killed.
"You cannot come that close to death without the hand of God somehow guiding the bullet," Charron told Newsmax's "Sunday Report." "I was convinced that this was a sign that God was guiding the path of this nation."
Charron, a priest at the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Carnegie, added that when someone tries to tell him it was just luck that Trump was missed, he says that "they're crazy."
"I mean, you can't possibly think that [missing by] a millimeter like that, I mean, it's absurd," he said. "It defies logic and reason that it could possibly come that close. It's clearly the hand of God. I don't waste time arguing with people like that. I mean, it's just unreasonable."
Charron spoke with Trump before the then-GOP candidate started his speech to the Butler crowd, and said Sunday he spoke to encourage him.
"That day, July 13, was the anniversary of what we Catholics believe is when Mary's apparition came and she warned the world about the error of Russia," he said. "I spoke to him about that beforehand. And I said, 'You know in your first term, you were strong on Russia and, you know, continue with that because we need someone who can confront evil in our world.'"
Meanwhile, Charron said that a statue at a Catholic church across from where Trump was speaking was of Our Lady of Fatima.
"I believe that it was the role not just of God, but of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is instrumental in pushing back against the evil in the world that is Russia, and it was odd that I spoke to him about that just beforehand, and then this happened," said Charron. "So yeah, it was providential, I believe, and I hope through this he will be confronted with the reality that just as God guided the hand of that bullet, he's going to guide our nation and Donald Trump, if he pledges to do good and to be a force for good in our world."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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