A New York Times photographer was awarded a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for his powerful images of the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The July 13 incident produced a series of historic photos and videos, including the moment Trump rose after being shot, raising his fist and shouting “Fight, fight, fight” as Secret Service agents rushed him off the stage.
One particularly iconic image by Times photographer Doug Mills captured the exact moment a bullet streaked through the air beside Trump’s head. That photo, along with several others taken that day, earned Mills one of journalism’s most prestigious honors.
Days after the assassination attempt, Mills spoke with Fox News at the Republican National Convention to share his firsthand account of the shocking event.
“I just happened to be down, shooting with a wide-angle lens just below the president when he was speaking. There was a huge flag waving right above his head, and I just happened to be taking pictures at the same time,” he told “America’s Newsroom” in Milwaukee at the time.
“Then, when I heard the pops, I guess I kept hitting on the shutter, and then I saw him reach for his [ear]. He grimaced and grabbed his hand and looked. It was blood, and then he went down, and I thought, ‘Dear God, he’s been shot,’” he continued.
Mills mentioned that he was surprised when he realized he had captured an image of the bullet whizzing past Trump. This happened after he was brought into a tent and started sending photos of Trump’s defiant fist pump to an editor.
“I was like, ‘Oh, hell. I remember taking pictures of him when this happened. Let me go back and look.’ I started looking at it. I started sending them right away, and I called one of the editors and said, ‘Please look at these really closely. This might have been near the moment where he was shot,’” he explained.
“She called me back like five minutes later and said, ‘You won’t believe this.’ She goes, ‘We actually see a bullet flying behind his head, and I was like, ’Oh my gosh,’” Mills said.
The photog said he captured the rally images using a Sony a1 camera.
“Doug Mills of The New York Times won the breaking news photography prize for his photos capturing the attempted assassination of President Trump last year, including an image in which a bullet can be seen,” the New York Times’ media reporter Katie Robertson reported.
The Times won three other Pulitzers for stories on Sudan, Afghanistan, and Baltimore, Fox News added.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday that the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is still on track to pass Trump’s tax bill around the Memorial Day holiday on May 26.
He told reporters there has been no “setback” in moving the legislation forward.
“Everybody remains in close coordination on the urgency of the hour, and we’re trying to get it done. If it’s not done before Memorial Day, it will be shortly thereafter. But our timetable is on pace,” Johnson told reporters at the U.S. Capitol, per Reuters.
Johnson admitted the timeline is “very ambitious” but maintained that House Republicans have not encountered any setbacks, despite delays in committee meetings required to advance individual components of the bill. GOP lawmakers remain divided over key proposals, including potential cuts to social safety net programs such as Medicaid, which provides healthcare for low-income Americans.
Those ‘cuts,’ however, are not benefits-focused. Republicans, acting on findings by the Department of Government Efficiency, are looking to cut identified waste, fraud, and abuse.
“It’s not a setback at all. In fact, I think it’s very productive,” Johnson said. “We would rather take another week and do it exactly right than rush it and have to adjust things later.”
