Donald Trump insisted he is "supposed to be dead" in his first interview after surviving an assassination attempt.
The former US president was shot in the ear during an attack at a campaign rally on Saturday which left an audience member dead and two critically injured.
Trump believes that turning his head to look at a screen may have saved his life - resulting in an injury to his right ear.
The Republican explained that he had slightly turned to the right so that he could read a chart on illegal immigrants.
Donald Trump insists he is 'supposed to be dead' in his first interview after surviving an assassination attemptGetty"I rarely look away from the crowd. Had I not done that in that moment, well, we would not be talking today, would we?," he told the New York Post.
"The most incredible thing was that I happened to not only turn but to turn at the exact right time and in just the right amount."
He added that he survived "by luck or by God."
"If I only half-turn, it hits the back of the brain. The other way goes right through [my skull]. And because the sign was high, I'm looking up. The chances of my making a perfect turn are probably one tenth of one percent, so I'm not supposed to be here.
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"I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be dead."
The ex-president added: "Because the thing was an eighth of an inch away. That I would turn exactly at that second, where he [the gunman] wouldn't stop the shot is pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. I'm really not supposed to be here."
Speaking about the moment he raised his fist in the air and mouthed, "fight" after being shot, Trump said: "A lot of people say it's the most iconic photo they've ever seen.
"They're right and I didn't die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture."
Trump said that the "reality is just setting in" following the incident which saw alleged shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks killed by the Secret Service "with one shot right between the eyes".
Donald Trump reacts to the gunshot on Saturday
GETTY IMAGES/TRUMP CAMPAIGN OFFICE/HANDOUTThe 20-year-old would-be assassin shot Trump from a roof 130 yards from the rally stage in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump said: "I've been fighting a group of people that I considered very bad people for a long time, and they've been fighting me, and we've put up a very good fight.
"We had a very tough speech, and I threw it out last night, I said I can't say these things after what I've been through."
"I'd love to achieve unity if you could achieve unity, if that's possible. There are many good people on the other side … But there are also people who are very divided. Some people actually want open borders and some people don't want open borders.
"The question is can those two sides get together? Can sides where you have people who want to see men play in women's sports, and you have a side that doesn't understand even the concept of allowing that to happen [get together]?"
