'I saw a hand come through the crowd and in that hand was a weapon': Video testimony of President Gerald Ford giving evidence at trial of his would-be assassin is revealed for the first time

Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme pointed a loaded gun at president in 1975

20 minute video released following a motion by a local historical group

The 38th U.S. president told a lawyer he saw the gun coming towards him

Video was used in trial of Charles Manson disciple Fromme, 26

President Gerald Ford recalled seeing a gun pointing at him during his attempted assassination by a Charles Manson disciple, according to his video testimony released for the first time yesterday.



The 38-year-old footage was used in the trial of Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme, who was jailed for life in 1975 for trying to kill the 38th U.S. president with a Colt. 45-caliber pistol.



The video was released by a federal court judge this week following a motion filed by a local historical group.



The case was the first in history featuring oral testimony from a sitting president in a criminal trial.

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President Gerald Ford recalled his attempted assassination in a 38-year-old video released for the first time

President Ford recalled seeing the gun before being shielded by Secret Service staff (pictured)

During the 20 minute video filmed in Washington President Ford calmly and carefully recalled the assassination attempt at a Sacramento park.



He gestures gently with his hands in the footage and sips water as he answers questions from a lawyer about what began as a routine morning in September 1975, before Fromme pushed through a crowd on the street, drew a semi-automatic pistol and pointed it at Ford.

The gun was not fired and Ford was not hurt.



He said he noticed a 'weathered' woman coming through a crowd of well-wishers and he stopped because he thought she wanted to speak to him but then he saw a large handgun.

Ford told the lawyer a Secret Service agent lunged at Fromme before he was ushered away by other staff.



In the taped testimony posted online by The Sacramento Bee , Ford said he initially noticed a woman because of her brightly colored dress as he walked toward the building, where he planned to meet with the governor.

He said he was walking along next to assembled crowd and shaking hands and speaking to them.

Watch the full testimony here

Charles Manson disciple Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme is arrested after pointing a loaded gun at the president

The president's testimony was used in Fromme's trial and she was jailed for life but released in 2009 In the 20 minute interview the president told lawyers he noticed Fromme's bright red dress

Ford told the lawyer: 'I noticed a person in the second or third row in a brightly coloured dress who appeared to want to either shake hands or speak or at least wanted to get closer to me.



'My first impression was that she wanted to come closer and extend - I thought at the time - a hand to shake or to say something to me.'



He said he 'hesitated' to wait for her, instead of walking along as he normally would have done, when he saw a gun.



Ford told the lawyer: 'As I stopped I saw a hand come through the crowd in the first row and that was the only active gesture that I saw. In the hand was a weapon.'

The gun was about two feet away from him, Ford said, but he did not see who was holding it.



'It was simply the hand with the weapon in it, at a height between my knee and my waist, approximately,' Ford said.



He recalled Fromme (pictured in the police car) had a 'weathered' face in his taped testimony. The case was the first in history featuring oral testimony from a sitting president in a criminal trial

Fromme was one of the disciples of Charles Manson (right). She pointed a Colt.45 caliber pistol at President Ford in 1975 that she had carried in a holster strapped to her leg (pictured let in police custody)



He then described a frantic moment when a security agent seized the suspect and Ford was rushed away.

Fromme was sentenced under a law covering assaults on U.S. presidents and was released from prison in 2009.

The tape, which represents a historical footnote in the widely publicized case, had been sealed since the case and was largely forgotten in the years since.

It was released as a result of a motion filed by the Eastern District Historical Society, a nonprofit that seeks to preserve the history of the federal court based in Sacramento.

Fromme received her nickname from Manson's 'family' because of her voice.



She was never implicated in the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and eight others, for which Manson is serving a life term in California.

Ford died at his Southern California home on December 26, 2006 at the age of 93.