Gary O'Donoghue, the BBC's chief North America political correspondent, has said his blindness proved an advantage during a crucial interview with a witness to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. The reporter, who is blind, interviewed Greg Smith moments after the shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania on 13 July.
O'Donoghue could only hear Smith, not see him. He later learned that Smith cut an unusual figure, clutching a can of beer and wearing a red pro-Trump visor with fake hair. "I wonder, if I could see, whether I would have given him the time of day … because he did look a bit odd," he said. "But I'm glad I did, obviously."
Smith's account was the earliest to detail the security failures. He described how he and others pointed out to police a man with a rifle on a rooftop, but officers did not halt him before he fired about five shots. Smith said a Secret Service agent then "blew his head off".
O'Donoghue said he momentarily feared Smith might be fabricating something "incredibly inflammatory and dangerous and misleading and irresponsible", but his account was consistent and has been corroborated by videos. The security lapses have prompted investigations and the resignation of the Secret Service director.
O'Donoghue, 56, was born with partial sight and lost his vision at age eight. He was once told a blind person couldn't be a reporter, but he refused to accept that. Reflecting on the interview, he said: "The vision could get in the way, and … the words were the thing that really counted."
