Trump calls out Butler County in address
Butler County featured in President Donald Trump’s first address of his second term before a joint session of Congress in a big way.
In his address Tuesday night, March 4, Trump attributed surviving the assassination attempt July 13 at the Butler Farm Show grounds to providence and pointed out some local faces.
Of the assassination attempt Trump said, “I believe my life was saved that day to make America great again.”
But first, he paid tribute to some familiar Butler County faces.
Helen, Allyson and Kaylee Comperatore, the widow and children of slain firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was killed during the assassination attempt; and Marc Fogel, a Butler County native and teacher recently released from Russian captivity, and his mother, Malphine, were part of a slate of 15 invited by first lady Melania Trump to watch the president speak at the Capitol.
Nearing the end of his nearly two hour speech, Trump pointed out first the Fogels, and then the Comperatores.
Of Fogel, who spent more than three years in detention in Russia for possession of a small amount of marijuana before his release in February, Trump touted his freedom as a promise kept.
“Last summer, I promised his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, I would bring her boy home,” he said. “After 22 days in office, I did just that.”
He used the moment, and the “coincidence” they are also from Butler County, to introduce the Comperatores as well.
Trump described the July 2024 assassination attempt at the farm show grounds during a rally while he was still a presidential candidate and Corey Comperatore’s death while shielding his family from stray bullets before paying tribute to Corey Comperatore.
“Corey Comperatore was a firefighter, a veteran, a Christian, a father; but most of all a protector,” Trump said. “Corey is looking down on his three beautiful ladies and cheering you on.”
He went on to call Comperatore “a shining example of a true American patriot” and said America was built by men like Corey Comperatore.
Earlier in the day, Marc Fogel communicated how honored he felt by the invitation.
“My mother and I are honored to be President Trump’s guests at the State of the Union tonight,” wrote Fogel in a statement to the media Tuesday afternoon. “Just over a month ago, I was uncertain if I would ever see America again. Now, I am, with my wonderful mother, a guest in its most historic chamber having received such an overwhelming welcome from my beloved country and so many people — including many members of Congress who are here, who worked very hard to bring me home.
“I am so grateful. Words cannot adequately express the magnitude of my emotions.”
In the statement, Fogel’s representatives added he was still reassimilating into American society following his release from Russian captivity and was not prepared to speak to the public.
