President Gerald Ford is shielded by the Secret Service on Sept. 15, 1975, after an assassination attempt by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who stepped out from behind a tree and pointed a loaded pistol at Ford.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Newly released footage from the trial of Charles Manson disciple Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme shows President Gerald Ford calmly and carefully recalling the attempted assassination in the videotaped testimony.

The roughly 20-minute interview taped in Washington was released Monday by a federal court as the result of a motion filed by a local historical group.

The former president recalled seeing a hand holding a large handgun slipping through a crowd at a Sacramento park before a Secret Service agent lunged at Fromme.

In the tape, Ford gestures gently with his hands 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 wasn’t fired, and Ford wasn’t hurt.

In the taped testimony posted online by The Sacramento Bee, Ford recalls seeing a “weathered” woman in a brightly colored dress as he walked toward the building, where he planned to meet with the governor. She “appeared to want to either shake hands or speak, or at least wanted to get closer to me,” Ford says.

He then saw a large gun coming through the crowd of well-wishers. But when asked if he saw the face of who was holding it, he answered, “No, I did not.”

The gun was about 2 feet away from him, Ford said.

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