Take a look at what happened over.
>> Well, that was an unforgettable moment.
Not just a turning point in last year's
election campaign, but a moment in
history. The assassination attempt on
President Trump. Today on Trump 100, I'm
talking to a man who captured two truly
iconic images that day. A defiant
president, blood on his face, fist in
the air. A remarkable image, but maybe
not as remarkable as the one he took
moments before. An image which captured
the bullet whistling past Donald Trump's
head.
>> Doug Mills was the man behind the lens
and he's with me now. Doug, welcome to
Trump 100.
>> Appreciate it, Mark. Thanks for having
me.
>> Really good to have you. And we're
sitting just outside at the West Wing um
on the just next to the north lawn. This
is kind of like your second home, isn't
it?
>> It has been since 1983.
>> 1983. I've been covering every
administration since then. Started out
with United Press International and I
went to the Associated Press and I've
been with the New York Times 24 years
now. So, yeah, this is like my second
home really. It's crazy to think that
this big house, as much as I've been
here, I probably been here as much as I
have been at home.
>> Obviously, I want to talk about Butler,
Pennsylvania. Um, what an extraordinary
day that was. But, um, you know, many
people will not necessarily know your
name, but they will have seen your
images. Uh so they will remember for
example that moment uh on September the
11th 2001
>> when you found yourself uh in a an
elementary school in Florida. Let's
start with that. Uh okay the image of
George W. Bush being told that a second
plane had hit uh the World Trade Center.
Take take us back to that moment. What
why were you there and what happened?
>> Well, it was a standard trip that the
president was going on to Florida. they
were starting a a new uh program within
the United States uh called No Child
Left Behind. And the president was going
to make a speech, but first he was going
to visit this classroom. And at the same
time, the first lady uh was going to be
on Capitol Hill basically announcing the
same program, No Child Left Behind. So
that meant they had to, you know, he
wanted to meet with some school kids and
then make the speech and announce this
new program. So it was pretty much like
no child left behind month was coming
ahead of us and we were going to have
nothing but you know speeches and lots
of legislation on the hill about it. So
yeah going into that class we flew down
with the president the night before and
uh that morning rose arose very early
and as we arriving at that school um you
know back then we didn't have cell
phones we had beepers and you know my
beeper went off and it was like call the
office. I didn't have a phone to call.
So I was like, "Okay." But then the
gentleman in front of me who worked for
the for the president, Gordon Jandro,
uh was a assistant to the press
secretary and um his phone rang and he
was like, "Hello." And he was like, "How
big a plane? Where in New York City?" So
they were talking about it as we as we
arrived at the school.
>> And you didn't know at that point what
had actually happened.
>> We had no idea. And of course we of
course like you know what's going on?
What's on what's going on? Uh Jordan. So
he said literally it's been a small
plane crash in New York City. That's all
we know about. Hit a building. It's like
how big? We said we he said we're told
it's a small aircraft. That's all we
know right now. So then we went into the
classroom. All 13 of us were in the back
of the press uh in the back where the
press room was and the president came in
and was speaking to the to the school
kids and I noticed Andy Card walk in one
of the side doors.
>> He's the chief of staff too. Andy Card's
chief of staff to the president and it
was incredibly
>> weird to see him walk into the
classroom. It was very unusual. Rarely
do you ever see the chief of staff in in
an event like that. And so he was
standing at the door and because I had
covered Bush 41.
Uh Andy Cart also worked in that
administration. So I kind of made eye
contact with Andy and I was like, "Andy,
what's up?"
>> So he was just standing in the corner of
the room at this stage.
>> He was the president was was being read
to by little children.
>> Exactly. And it was like everything was
very calm and very normal and uh but to
see Andy standing there I knew something
was up and it was just unusual. So I
said to him again like what's going on
and he said uh he gave me a number two
and I was like peace. I was like that
means peace. I don't know what but he
was saying a second aircraft basically
and I didn't know what he meant. And so
then he waited for a moment to interrupt
the president and he walked over and
whispered into his ear what he told him
and then to see the expression on the
president's face. I knew it was
something big, you know. Then we
immediately left the classroom and then
he went to uh make a speech to the
nation and then I spent the whole day
with him and flew, you know, the first
stop was in um off air force basically
in Louisiana and then we went to uh
Nebraska where the underground bunker
was. So I flew with him that whole day
and we didn't know what he had said at
at that moment. But it turned out a week
later, you know, when we were flying up
to to ground zero a week later, I asked
Andy Cart on the plane while the
president was standing right there. I
said, "So Andy, what what did you tell
the president?" And the president's over
gaggling with the, you know, the the
other reporters and he said, "Well, I
told him, you know, Mr. President, a
second aircraft has hit the World Trade
Center. America's under attack."
>> Wow. And I and so all the reporters
immediately turned around like, "What
did you say? What what's going on? What
did you just tell Doug?"
>> Who's your favorite president to
photograph? And also who you must have
got to know them all well. Um who who
who do you feel you have a you know a
close the closest relationship with? Who
do you get on best with?
>> I would probably say President Trump is
by far the closest I've been. You know,
I've gotten to know every president um
in different ways. Um got to know
Reagan. He was very nice to me. Um Bush
41 was incredible to me. Also great
relationship. He asked me
>> HW Bush the father.
>> Yeah. H Bush um sitting in the briefing
room which you have spent many hours in
uh on a Friday afternoon. The door opens
up which we see the president or the
press secretary walk in every day and it
was President Bush standing there in a
sweatshirt and a pair of shorts and he
said, "Doug, what are you doing?" I
said, "Sir, we're just waiting to go
home. You know, whenever you're done
with your day." He said, 'Well, you know
how to play horseshoes? I was like,
'Yeah, it's been a while, but I know how
to play horseshoes. And so, he said,
'Well, find another still photographer
and uh come on up to the Oval Office.
We're going to go throw some horseshoes.
So, ended up playing horseshoes with him
quite a bit. That's the president in
that picture. It doesn't look like
George Bush. Yeah. And that was not the
first day. So, he invited me back a lot
to play outside the Oval Office because
there were tournaments. I got to play
with Neil and Jeb and there were a lot
of um Air Force One pilots that were in
this tournament and that was just like a
practice round and we were playing and
he threw a ringer and then you know you
throw two shoes so he threw a ringer, I
threw one on top of it. He threw another
on top of mine. I thought, "Oh gosh."
And then I threw my final shoe and it
landed on top of his which means I won.
So I had my arms up in the air, you
know, in jubilation and he was, you
know, frustrated by it, but it was, you
know, all good fun and and we became
very close during those times because we
talked about family. I would throw
horseshoes and Barbara Bush would be
swimming in the swimming pool behind us.
>> Yeah.
>> You know, and so he was great.
>> He's wearing glasses. He's got a white
baseball cap on. He's got a sweatshirt
on, shorts,
>> knobbybly knees.
>> Yeah. I mean, he's just been finished
playing tennis.
>> He's looking pretty pissed off. And
you're you're you're um you're on his uh
on his left and and hands in the air
celebrating.
>> After that was Clinton. Clinton was very
good to me too. Hillary was, you know,
great rapport. Followed her on the
campaign. Um and then Bush 43, again
quite a gentleman, treated me like gold.
We have a great relationship. He
actually sent me a handwritten note
um after my Pulitzer, which was an
incredible gesture by the former
president to send me a note, handwritten
congratulating you on my my award and
just saying talking about my career. And
so that's the kind of man he is. He's a
great guy.
>> And it's a good point to mention, you
haven't just got one pullet surprise,
you have three.
>> Three, correct? Yeah. Very lucky. Again,
very lucky. Two of them with the
Associated Press um and one with the New
York Times. Well, you make you make your
own luck.
>> One more about uh presidents. President
Obama, great relationship with him, too.
He and I kind of buted heads at one
point during his uh first term about
access, about what still photographers
were seeing and what their White House
photographer was taking. And, you know,
it's kind of the beginning of Instagram
and Twitter where some of the events
that we typically would go in, they
would say, "No, no, no. The White House
photographer is going to do that and
they're going to put it out on Twitter
and Instagram." And I was very critical
of that. I was, you know, I went did a
couple interviews, but uh and you know,
batted heads with the press secretary
about it. But in the end, the president
was very concerned about it. He heard
the noise that was happening out here on
the south lawn and in in print and um he
and I, you know, worked it out, became
really, you know, I would say, good
partners in what we do. He invited me to
a state dinner for the Italian prime
minister, which is the first time I've
ever been invited to a state dinner. And
I felt like that was quite a gesture on
his part to do that for me.
>> Donald Trump, you said, is is the most
sort of iconic person that you president
that you have um photographed. Why? Why
is that?
>> I always thought that Obama was the most
photogenic.
>> Trump is the most iconic. You can take a
picture of him in any situation, even if
it's hands, his hair, or whatever, you
know who it is. And I think because we
have so much access to him,
>> it's remarkable, isn't it?
>> Remarkable. I mean,
>> we can argue over how transparent he is,
but accessible 100%.
>> 100%.
>> What about if you if you capture
something that is less flattering? Um,
you know, do you feel that he's a
particular particular kind of guy, isn't
he? So, do you feel that some stuff is
off limits? I mean, there's been
photographs of of of injuries on his
hand. You know, his hair sometimes goes
all over the place. Mine does as well. I
don't particularly like it when that
when that's captured for me,
>> but I mean, can you can you photograph
anything and publish anything?
>> Yes.
>> And you're not worried that you might
lose access or something like that?
>> No. No. I mean,
>> I have photo especially during the first
term hair standing straight up and I may
have pictures of his hair, right?
Standing straight up depending on the
wind. I tweeted one one time and you
know I caught a little from it about you
know from people in the uh in the
administration about like was that
really necessary? I was like it
happened. That's my job. I have been in
a situation where behind the scenes with
him and he's doing something and he will
look at me and say Doug put the cameras
down. Yes, sir. You know I'm in his
space. I'm in his orbit. I have that
kind of respect for him if you know it's
no different than whether it's President
Trump. I remember uh President Obama
saying that some one time the same
thing. We were backstage and he started
to eat something and he was like, "Doug,
can you hold off while I eat?" I was
like, "Absolutely, sir. Nobody wants a
picture of you eating, you know, a
sandwich or, you know, I think at that
time it was like some nuts or
something."
>> And there was one picture I I read about
that you took that was on the front page
of of the New York Times. Um and
President Trump, I think it was in his
first term, he didn't look all that
great. He had a bit of a bit of a double
chin, should we say? Yes. Yes.
>> And he picked you up on it.
>> He did in front of Theresa May, the
prime minister of the UK. We uh we had
we were here at the White House the day
before, actually really the night
before. And um it was Brett Kavanaaugh's
uh big swearing in ceremony here, the
Supreme Court nominee and justice now.
And um so they gave me some behind
the-scenes access and I actually went
upstairs in the mansion on the living
quarters and there was a room there that
he wanted to um have these documents
signed just for the historical purposes.
And I had a picture, you know, that
showed a little much more Chen than he
he preferred. And during the photo op
with the prime minister the next day at
the end of it, he was like, "Doug, Doug,
you know what the hell? What was up with
that photo? I hated that photo. It was
on the front page of the New York Times.
I hated that photo." I was like, "Sir,
I'm sorry." you know, but that's what it
is. And so, you know, of course, then
all the British media were like, "What
is he talking about? What are you
talking?" So, then they all, you know,
jumped onto that, too.
>> But he does tend to like you. I mean, he
he he calls you out quite a lot in a
very positive way, the best photographer
in the world and all this sort of
hyperbole that Trump loves. Not that
you're not the best photographer world
in the world. You may well be, Doug.
But, um,
>> about that.
>> Uh, but is that a bit uncomfortable? I
mean, you're you're kind of supposed to
be impartial, independent, and then you
got the president saying how great you
are. Is that a bit bit uncomfortable? It
is at times it's it's it's very
flattering sometimes, you know, because
when he introduced he introduced me to
the queen and said the same thing, you
know,
>> um and yeah, it's a little
uncomfortable, but I I look at it as it
is like a conversation piece for him.
And I think he respects what I do, which
I I really admire the fact that he is so
focused on visuals. I mean, there's no
there's no president ever who's been
more focused on how he looks than than
uh President Trump because he will look
at every camera angle when he's doing an
interview.
>> You got your camera with you right now.
You never never leaves your site.
>> Yes, I do.
>> Yeah. I mean, there's again the the
access for journalists here during the
Trump administration, whether it's first
or second, is extraordinary. It wears us
out. As you well know, we're here 10 12
14 hours a day. You know, that's that's
the love of this job. And uh it's
exhausting. Um but man, is it rewarding,
you know, and because we're covering
history,
>> I'm sure. Let's go back a couple of
decades. Ronald Reagan. Um an image that
that you've you've shared with me here.
It's January the 6th, 1987. Um the the
image is uh Ronald Reagan on the on the
left, Nancy Reagan on the right. They're
they're leaning out of a window. Nancy's
waving. Uh Ronald uh President Reagan
has his hand in a sort of K symbol.
Yeah, he's his um forefinger and thumb
together. Um where was this? I
understand it was it was a hospital
window.
>> It was at the hospital. It was at the
hospital in Maryland where the president
went for colon cancer. That was a big
deal. I mean, you can imagine anytime
the president goes on the operating
table and is sick with cancer. and he um
had been in the hospital for a while and
the media were out there um at Bethesda
hospital because we were getting a
briefing every day from the doctors in
the morning and at the evening and we
kept saying when are we going to see the
president? When are we going to see the
president? And they were like probably
on departure when he leaves
>> and then the windows opened and you saw
him,
>> right? So they said hey the president
wants to say hello to everybody. We were
like what do you mean where? Said well
we think he's going to come out one of
the windows over there that's just down
from his hospital room. So then we ran
down and it happened so fast Mark and
one of the journalist one of the
reporters yelled up to him how are you
doing sir and that's when he did I'm
okay. A good good point you've just
raised there. So as a photographer and I
guess maybe you know people watching
this listening to this won't necessarily
think about this but you're not asking
the questions. So so you're not is there
ever an occasion when you where you
shout out a question to to get a
reaction which you can then photograph
or are you just there to capture
whatever happens? Yeah, I leave that up
to my colleagues like you who to ask all
the questions. I don't think I've ever
asked the president a question or asked
him to do anything that's not natural.
You know, I speak with him out of
respect. At the end of every photo op, I
feel like I'm like the senior journalist
around here. So, I always say, "Thank
you, Mr. President." And he's always
like, "Thank you, Doug." And he'll, you
know, he'll either talk or not to me.
>> It's funny. I mean, you work for the New
York Times and he hates the New York
Times.
>> That's what he says. You think he loves
it? Really?
>> Yes. It's one of his first reads in the
morning.
>> Okay. But but but on the on the face of
it, yes, he hates it. And he every rally
and I've been to many, you've been to
many many more than I have. Um fake
news, you lot back there, he's pointing
at us, you and me.
>> Um what does that make you feel? It
hurts my feelings, but there are a lot
of hardworking journalists like yourself
who are not out here spreading fake
news, you know, and and yeah, sometimes
it hurts my feelings and um I want to
say, you know, sir, and sometimes he'll
say not this group, but he'll say that
group or whatever, but yes, he loves to
rail on the New York Times and that's
one of his, you know, rallying calls to
the to his base. And um then when you
end up, you know, I can be at a rally
and walk up and I know damn well that
I'm not really welcome in there, but I
will go out of my way to make a friend
or two with anybody who's there who's
wearing a MAGA hat or shirt, you know,
just like introduce you. I'm human.
>> You know, what do you what do you think?
How what's your name? Where you from?
That kind of thing. I love engaging. I'm
not there to fight. I just want to let
them know that I am a decent human being
who works for the New York Times. and
you may not like it or you may not read
it or you've just heard about it. Um,
but yeah, I mean, you and I have been to
so many rallies and when you talk to
some people at rallies and you hear or
see what they're reading on Facebook, it
blows my mind. I mean, I was at a Trump
rally one time and three women who were
probably in their 50s walked up to me
and said, "Did you hear the news?" I was
like, "No, no, no." And they were like,
"Hillary Clinton's in jail." I was like,
"Wait, what?"
>> You're like, "Oh, I better get there."
>> Yeah, I better. So, I immediately pulled
out my phone. I started looking. I was
like, "No, I don't think so."
>> So, speaking of rallies, uh, one rally,
uh, must be seared in your mind. Uh,
that was July 2024, uh, Butler,
Pennsylvania. Uh, take us there, Doug.
>> Another brutal day. Uh, very historic
day, like you said. Um, one of the most
memorable rallies I'll ever go to in my
life. I hope I hope I never have to go
through anything like that again. But it
was a long day. you know, we get there
at 6:00 in the morning, put our
equipment out, Secret Service sweeps it,
you know, and by 5:00 in the afternoon,
it's 95° sunny. Um, we've all been
standing out in the heat and we were,
you know, it started out being the day
that they were going to announce the VP
nominee and so there were a lot more
journalists there than typically would
be at a rally, but um, and there are
four photographers who were allowed in
the buffer zone around the president.
>> So, this is just around the podium
basically,
>> correct? just around the podium
>> in the sort of like the area between the
podium and the and the front row of of
people.
>> Correct. It's almost like a U-shape. And
>> uh we are vetted. Um Evan Vucci from AP,
Anna Money Maker from Getty Images,
Jamin Botsford from the Washington Post,
and myself were the four that were in
the in the bubble that day. And um once
the speech started, all the
photographers who are in that group,
those four of us know that we have a
maximum of 10 minutes in the buffer zone
at every rally. whether it's outdoors or
indoors. And so the staff, we have uh
members of the president's staff who are
there ushering us around and you know,
making sure we're okay and you know, we
have a Secret Service agent who's with
us, who's assigned just to us
>> and um the rally starts and uh he came
out on stage and then once he started
speaking, I remember saying to one of
the White House staff, I said, "All
right, how much longer do we have?" And
he said, "Oh, we have a couple more
minutes, but not long."
>> Right? So then I thought, oh, you know,
and I'd been around a little bit. So
then I thought, all right, I want to get
some head-on pictures with the flag
above him. Um,
>> there was a massive massive flag behind
him that was flying from a from a sort
of cherry picker, wasn't it? Yeah.
>> Correct. Yeah. And it had been all
baldled up in the day and everybody
thought that was some kind of crazy
omen. So they the the White House staff
was, you know, urgently trying to get
the flag down to unfold it because the
wind had blown it up into a knot,
basically.
>> And that was not the image that they
wanted. So they got it unfurled and down
it came and the rally started about an
hour late right around six o'clock and
um couple minutes after I came right
around and I was literally like 10 10 ft
from him uh maybe closer but I had my
finger down and got a couple gestures
and all of a sudden the shots rang out.
Take a look at what happened over
[Applause]
and you know I knock on wood and I thank
God every day you know that that I kept
my finger on the shutter because I had
never heard an AR-15 fired before. I'm
not I don't own a gun. I know a lot of
people, you know, think that every
American owns five guns, but I'm one of
those guys who doesn't own one. Yeah.
>> I thought it was like a motorcycle or
fireworks or something like that. more
like a motorcycle because it was a loud,
you know, like a muffler pop. And then
when I saw him go down, I was like,
"Oh."
And then the second four shots came out
and there everybody by now within those
seconds, Mark, it was like everybody
yelling, you know, active shooter, get
down, get down, you got to get down.
>> But of course, you didn't. You were
running towards it.
>> Yes, I did. And I think maybe that I
mean, it's the journalism instinct that
comes out, but not the smartest thing.
And believe me, my wife and children
have railed on me about, "Dad, if that
ever happens again, please don't go
towards it. Get your ass down. Get out
of the way."
>> You're never going to do that though,
are you? None of us will. That's is in
our sort of in our DNA moment, right?
>> And and so you just kept the the finger
down.
>> I kept the shutter down. I was, you
know, there's been a lot of conspiracy
theories about why I was shooting at an
8,000 of a second at ISO 64. So, this is
I was going to get a bit technical about
this because it is fascinating, but
well, let's let's do it one one step at
a time because you then you took the
photos,
>> correct?
>> And and I guess what happened next? I
mean, how long before you looked at what
you'd got?
>> So, yeah, I um after after the president
left the stage and I had photographed
him coming down, I could see the bloody
ear. Um I could see, you know, obviously
the fist pump was, you know, something
that I thought about immediately. I've
got to get that picture out. I've got to
move that picture right away. Uh and
then once he was whisked away in the in
the SUV to the hospital. Um it was not
until then I started sending pictures
and looking like, "Oh my gosh, this is
incredible. Look at his ear." You know,
I was just like, "I can't believe this
happened." And then standing there and
was probably 2 minutes, 3 minutes, a
secret service agent walked up to us
like, "Guys, I got to I got to get you
out of here. You're walking through my
crime scene right now. You are literally
in my crime scene." We're like, "Well,
take us somewhere." And he said, "All
right, I'll take you to OSA, which is
the offstage announcement tent, which is
behind the president's, you know, behind
the stage." And so, we walk back in
there. And when we walk back in there,
that's when it really hit me. You know,
you walk in there and all of his staff
are sitting or standing, hugging,
crying, and I was like, "Oh my gosh."
And then I got a little bit of the
shakes. My adrenaline is still rolling.
I'm like, "What just happened?"
And so, you know, I started sending more
pictures. Got a call from the office
saying, um, "Hey, send whatever you have
right now." And then then the next call
was from, uh, one of our White House
reporters, Maggie Haberman, who was
like, "Doug, tell me, are you there?"
And I was like, "Yeah, I'm here, Maggie.
I'm here." She goes, "What the hell's
going on?" And I said, "Well, he was
shot." And she goes, "Well, wait, what
are you talking about?" I said, "He was
shot." And she said, "How do you know
that?" And I said, "Well, I'm looking at
the pictures now where he, you know, he
gestures, he grimaces, he grabs his
hand, he see he can see blood." And
she's like, "Wait, we're hearing that he
he, you know, his ear was cut on a
teleprompter that was hit by the bullet,
but he he wasn't actually shot." I was
like, "No, Maggie, that's I'm
telling you right now." She's like,
"Wait a minute. Explain to me again."
So, I went through and I'm looking at
the pictures. I'm like, "Maggie, I can
see him." Grimace, look at his hand.
There's blood on his hand immediately.
And then he goes down and she's like,
"Oh, oh my god." Okay, bye. So then she
hangs up and then they start reporting
that knowing that, you know, I'm there.
I can see this. And then she said, "Look
at the teleprompter." Right before she
got up, she goes, "Look at the
teleprompterss and see make sure they're
not broken." I was like, I'm looking at
right now. It's not broken at all.
They're they're completely intact. And
the teleprompter is the glass device
that the president reads his speech
through.
>> We call them auto cues.
>> Yeah. So once that happened, so then I,
you know, I'm looking through and I'm
trying to send every picture of the fist
pump and him coming down with his ear
bloody. And then uh the off another
photo editor calls me and says, "Do you
have anything of him when he was
actually speaking when the shots rang
out?" And I was like, "Yeah, yeah, let
me go look." So I go back and start
looking at that and I was like, "Oh my
god, I do." Said, "Start sending him."
So I sent everything of him gesturing,
him going down, all of that. Five
minutes go by and my phone rings again
and um photo editor says, "You're not
going to believe this." And I was like,
"What?" She said, "We think you have a
picture of the actual bullet crossing
behind his head." And I was like, "Whoa,
what?" So she said, "Let me text you
this picture." So she texted to me. I
was like, "Wow, unbelievable."
>> And you had to be shooting at a certain
frame rate. Is that am I using the right
jar?
>> That's right. Yes. I was extremely high
shutter speed. highest shutter speed
that the camera goes is 8,000 of a
second,
>> which is quite an unusual. Very
>> unusual. So, why were you doing that?
>> Because I I love a minimal depth of
field in my pictures. I love minimal
depth of field means I want my focus to
be everything you see right away, not
what's in the background right away. And
it's just my style. It's just the way I
shoot. I like minimal depth of field.
It's like, you know, when you turn on a
movie and you see very shallow depth of
field. I like that look in still images.
So that's why I was shooting 8,000 of a
second at f2.0, which means very shallow
depth of field. And had the camera,
could the camera gone up to 10,000 of a
second, I would have done it. But the
highest was eight. And so that's, you
know, and and then even the next morning
after Butler, I'm in an airport and I'm
ready to fly out to the to the
convention where the president's going
next. And this guy walks up behind me.
He's over my shoulder looking at the my
laptop and I kind of felt him there and
I I could tell that he had on army, you
know, fatigues. And so he said, "Wait,
what are you looking at there?" And I
said, "Oh, these are pictures from
yesterday." He goes, "Those pictures are
all over the internet. That picture of
the bullet. Oh my god, I've seen it
everywhere. I just saw it on
television." And I said, "Yeah." I I
said, "I actually took it." He goes,
"Wait, what?" He goes, "Can I look at
the raw data?"
>> I was like, "Sure." He goes, "I do this
kind of forensic work as my job." So
when I saw this image, I thought, "This
guy's got one in a million or one in
five million chances of stopping that
bullet. You're really lucky." And I was
like, I know
>> because of the speed of the bullet, the
shutter speed, everything has to be
exactly right to get that
>> correct. And and Trump has actually told
me that he thinks that's the bullet that
hit his ear because a couple of forensic
people said that that's how I was able
to stop it because when it nicked it ear
his ear, it slowed it down enough to be
able to photograph. I don't know if
that's true, but you know that's that's
for forensic people to look at.
>> What an extraordinary day.
>> Yeah. Oh, amazing day.
And every time, you know, I talk about
it, every time I've talked to the
president about it, because he's he's
talked to me a number of times about it,
u I think he looks at that picture a lot
and he thinks about that moment, how
freaking lucky he was.
>> It was a remarkable human reaction,
wasn't it?
>> Oh, incredible. I mean,
>> whatever you think of him
>> exactly
>> as as a person, as a politician, the way
he reacted in that moment. I mean, none
of us knows how we would react, but I'm
sure many of us would not immediately
get up and and and exactly
>> fight fight fight. Remarkable.
>> Yeah, it's crazy crazy day.
>> What do you What do you think of
President Trump? You know, you know him
pretty well.
>> Personal level, I got, you know, nothing
but respect because he respects me and I
respect that he likes me for what I do
and my job despite the fact that I work
for the New York Times. Um, I'm old.
that may, you know, I think, you know,
he he found out I was when I I'm 65 now,
but on my 60th birthday, he invited
myself and the rest of the press court
because it was my birthday up to the
front of the cabin and on Air Force One.
And um he finally said to me, "So, Doug,
how old are you?" And uh I said, "Uh,
sir, I'm 60." He goes, "60?" And he he
looked around. He goes, "Can you believe
I'm older than this?" And it was just
like, "Holy." Yeah. It was just like
unbelievable. But yeah, I mean, so I
mean, he's got a great sense of humor
and on a personal level, I could I mean,
as as long as I've been here, the noise,
the speeches, all of that stuff, I
can't, you know, one of my my mentors,
Bob Dohy, was always like, "Kid,
whatever. The worst thing you can do is
get attached politically to any
president." I try and stay as
a-political as I can, even with my
photographs. And so, personally, he and
I get along great. Hopefully that last.
I mean, who knows?
Hopefully, you know, if I take a bad
picture of him, you didn't say, "All
right, get him out of here. Get your
ass. I don't ever want to see you
again." But hopefully that never
happens. Yeah.
>> Well, hopefully not. Doug Mills, what a
pleasure. Thank you very much for
talking to us on on Sky News. That's um
fascinating.
>> My pleasure. Love your podcast. It's
great.