The widow of Cory Comperatore, the volunteer firefighter who was tragically killed at the Trump rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, shared on social media that she received a phone call from former President Donald Trump.
"President Trump called me to share his condolences," Helen Compatore wrote. "He was very kind and said he would continue to call me in the days and weeks ahead. I told him the same thing I told everyone else. He left this world a hero and God welcomed him in. He did not die in vain that day."
During Trump’s speech, Mr. Comperatore heroically dove to shield his family from gunfire.
JUST IN: The widow of Corey Comperatore has received a call from President Donald Trump after her husband was shot at the PA rally.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 16, 2024
"He was very kind and said he would continue to call me in the days and weeks ahead," Helen Comperatore said.
Helen told Trump that her… pic.twitter.com/AidZKYaypO
It was previously reported that Joe Biden called Mrs. Comperatore, but she refused the call.
“I didn’t talk to Biden,” she said Monday, according to a report from the New York Post. “I didn’t want to talk to him. My husband was a devout Republican and he would not have wanted me to talk to him.”
“I don’t have any ill will towards Joe Biden. I’m not one of those people that gets involved in politics. I support Trump. That’s who I’m voting for, but I don’t have ill will towards Biden,” she added. “He didn’t do anything bad to my husband. A 20-year-old despicable kid did.”
The New York Times has more.
Mr. Comperatore’s sister, Kelly Comperatore Meeder, said members of the family had also spoken with representatives of the Trump campaign on Monday night. Ms. Comperatore Meeder said they had declined an invitation to speak with President Biden.
Mr. Comperatore, 50, was an ardent supporter of Mr. Trump and was eager on Saturday to see the former president for the first time in person. His sister said on Tuesday that her family believed that anger toward Mr. Trump was sown by President Biden and media outlets and had led to the fatal shooting.
“We’re not offering them anything,” Ms. Comperatore Meeder, 56, said of President Biden and his administration.
Mr. Comperatore was a father of two daughters and worked at a local plastics manufacturing company. He was also a longtime volunteer firefighter.
He had been so excited to attend his first rally for Mr. Trump that he woke up early to get in line, even after a late evening at a Chris Stapleton concert, Ms. Comperatore Meeder said. He texted their mother that he and his family had been able to switch seats to get closer to the president. Their mother, Ms. Comperatore Meeder said, wanted him to wave at the television cameras so she could watch him.
Related: Enthusiasm for Trump Surges
Ms. Comperatore Meeder expressed that she holds media outlets “very much responsible” for her brother’s death due to their portrayal of Mr. Trump and his supporters.
“This was a 20-year-old boy on the roof,” she said. “He didn’t come back here from Vietnam. He didn’t see all of these terrible things. He just knows what he’s been hearing, what the media has portrayed this man to be, and it’s very unfair.”
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