Last night in the nation’s capitol a gunman stormed the security perimeter at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The president, the first lady, the vice president, cabinet members, and more than 2,500 guests were gathered to celebrate the First Amendment and freedom of the press. But after shots were fired, the president was evacuated.
It was at the same hotel where President Ronald Reagan was nearly assassinated by John Hinckley, 45 years ago.
Tonight, federal investigators are looking into the motive of the alleged gunman — a 31-year old teacher from Torrance, California.
He emailed what a senior official called a “manifesto” to his family, minutes before the attack. He wrote he was targeting members of the Trump administration.
We spoke with President Trump this afternoon at the White House about what happened.
Norah O’Donnell: Mr. President, do you know if you were the target of the gunman?
President Trump: I don’t know. It sounded– to me. I read a manifesto, which is– he’s radicalized. He was a Christian– believer, and then he became an anti-Christian, and he had a lotta change. He’s been goin’ through a lot, based on what he wrote. His brother complained about him and I think reported him to the police. And his sister, likewise, complained about him. His family– was very concerned. He was– probably a pretty sick guy.
Norah O’Donnell: I was in the room not far from you, Mr. President. Could hear what sounded like gunshots or commotion. People nearby could smell the gun powder. Everybody hit the floor. How worried were you that there were gonna be injuries?
President Trump: I wasn’t worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world.
Norah O’Donnell: You are sitting there next to the first lady. The entertainer named Oz Pearlman is talking to you. He’s known as The Mentalist. When did you know something was wrong?
President Trump: Right around that point. In fact, you can see the expression on the first lady’s– face. And your president of the evening, chairman, or president, or both, who was doing a great job, by the way–
Norah O’Donnell: Weijia Jiang, CBS News–
President Trump: –Your– your associate, yeah. She was a terrific person. They were asking the name of Karoline’s child, that he didn’t know, I guess. But he was able to get it.
Norah O’Donnell: Your press secretary is expecting and– he was trying to guess the baby’s–
President Trump: That’s right.
Norah O’Donnell: –name.
President Trump: That’s right.
Norah O’Donnell: You mentioned the first lady, her face. She looked very alarmed.
President Trump: She was–
Norah O’Donnell: Was she scared?
President Trump: Well, I don’t wanna say, and people don’t like having it said that they were scared. But certainly, I mean, who wouldn’t be when you have a situation like that? By that time I think she realized ahead of time that that was more of a bullet than it was a tray. And she was– I– I looked at her face just a little while ago before I came. I saw the scene. They played it for me and, you know, pretty good closeup. And– she looked– very upset about what just took place, you know? Why not?
Norah O’Donnell: You see the security moving quickly, within seconds, grabbing the vice president by his coat, lifting him up, bringing him out. Then the counter assault comes in. Took ten seconds for them to flank you, Mr. President, and then 20 seconds to get you out. It looked chaotic. At one point you were down. What was happening?
President Trump: Well, what happened is– it was a little bit me. I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for ’em. I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, bad one. And different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time. And– I was surrounded by great people. And I probably made them act a little bit more slowly. I said, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. Lemme see. Wait a minute.” So, you know, I’m telling guys to–
Norah O’Donnell: Just at that moment where it looks like you go sort of down with the Service, you were telling them to wait?
President Trump: Well, no what happened is then I started walking with them. I turned, I started walking, and they said, “Please go down. Please go down on the floor.” So I went down and the first lady went down also. But we were asked to go down by the– agents as I was walking. In other words, I was–
Norah O’Donnell: They wanted you almost to crawl out—
President Trump: I was standing up– pretty much. I was standing up and then turned around the opposite direction and started pretty much walking out pretty tall, a little bent over because they– you know, I’m not lookin’ to be standing too tall. And– but I was walking out. I was pretty– about halfway there when they said, “Please go down to the floor. Please go down to the floor.” So I dropped to the floor. So did the first lady.
Norah O’Donnell: What was your thought at that moment? What did the first lady say?
President Trump: Well, my thought was, “You know, I’ve been through this before a couple of times.” And– she has not to this extent. She handled it great. I mean, she was– she’s– very strong, smart. She got it. She knew what was happening. She listened. I did too, by the way,
Norah O’Donnell: Because this was the first time–
President Trump: When– when they said– you know, when they said, “Drop down,” that meant trouble. And obviously I’m the president, and I listened to what they said, “Please drop down. Sir, please drop down.” So I wa– was walking halfway and then I dropped down at the f– final because we had a little ways to go where you’re exposed to the ballroom, surroundings. And– then I got up and we went to a hold room for a while and I tried to get them to continue the event, if possible.
Norah O’Donnell: You wanted to go back in.
President Trump: I did. I really did.
Norah O’Donnell: You can see the gunman running through the metal detectors. And he fired off one or two rounds.
President Trump: Yeah. His speed was rather incredible, actually. It was– he was like a blur.
Norah O’Donnell: How did he get that close–
President Trump: Well–
Norah O’Donnell: –With the place swarming with security?
President Trump: I will say– I– I say it because I’m a big fan of the people, of law enforcement. And, you know, some of these people, they may be crazy, but they’re not stupid and they figure things out. You know, he ran 45 yards they say, and he just went to it, and then boom, he popped through it. I mean, he ran like– I think the NFL should sign him up. He was fast. When you look at it on tape, it’s almost like a blur. But it was amazing ’cause as soon as they saw that you could see them draw their guns. They were so professional. Aimed their guns, and then they took him down immediately.
Two hours later, the president was back at the White house to brief reporters.
President Trump: I saw a room that was just totally unified. It was, in one way, very beautiful….
Norah O’Donnell: Do you think this will change your relationship with the press?
President Trump: Well, look, for whatever reason, we disagree on a lot of subjects. We– we talk about crime. I’m very strong on crime — it seems like the press isn’t. It’s not so much the press, it’s the press plus the Democrats because they’re almost one in the same. It’s, like, the craziest thing. I have the strongest border we’ve ever had in the country where, as you know, it– it’s at zero people for nine months came into our country through our southern border. We have a very tough border.
Norah O’Donnell: The so-called manifesto is a stunning thing to read, Mr. President. He appears to reference a motive in it. He writes this quote, “Administration officials, they are targets.” And he also wrote this, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” What’s your reaction to that?
President Trump: Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you’re– you’re he– you’re horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I’m– I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.
Norah O’Donnell: Oh you think– do you think he was referring to you?
President Trump: I’m not a pedophile. Excuse me. Excuse me. I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? I got associated with all– stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, lets say, Epstein or other things. But I said to myself, “You know, I’ll do this interview and they’ll probably”– I read the manifesto. You know, he’s a sick person. But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things.
Norah O’Donnell: Mr. President these are the gunman’s words –
President Trump: And I was never– excuse me. Excuse me. You shouldn’t be reading that on 60 Minutes. You’re a disgrace. But go ahead. Let’s finish the interview.
Norah O’Donnell: The other thing that he wrote, in the–
President Trump: You– you’re disgraceful.
Norah O’Donnell: The other thing in the manifesto that I think is worth looking at in terms of determining his motive, is he had been staying at the hotel since Friday. He checked in, he said he had cased the place, and he wrote, “What the hell is the Secret Service doing?” And he wrote this quote, “I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every ten feet, metal detectors out the wazoo. What I got is nothing.” He wrote, “Like, this level of incompetence is insane.” Sir, you have already had two attempted–
President Trump: Well, he was pretty incompetent too, because he got caught. And he got caught pretty easily. So I’d say he was pretty incompetent too. You know, I can take any event having to do with security or anything else. I– I can always find fault. Those guys did a good job last night. They did a really good job.
Norah O’Donnell: I mention that because, again, his m– his motive. You brought this up. He had social media accounts that had anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric.
President Trump: You should read– why don’t you read all the anti-Trump? Why don’t you read it? You just did, so why don’t you read it?
Norah O’Donnell: Well, he had a lot of anti-Christian rhetoric. He had– he was part of a group called the Wide Awakes. He had attended a No Kings protest in California.
President Trump: No Kings, yeah.
Norah O’Donnell: What did security tell you about what may have been his motives?
President Trump: Well, see, they– the part– the reason you have people like that is you have people doing No Kings. I’m not a king. What I am– if I was a king I wouldn’t be dealing with you.
Norah O’Donnell: Also at the dinner last night was your Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. His sister, Kerry Kennedy was there. They’ve both witnessed their father and their uncle be assassinated.
President Trump: That’s right.
Norah O’Donnell: Erika Kirk was there. The House Majority Leader Steve Scalise was there. Political violence has touched so many people in that room. Is there something that you as president can do? What can be done to change the trajectory?
President Trump: Well, you know, you go back 20 years, 40 years, 100 years, 200 years, 500 years, it’s always been there. People are assassinated. People are injured. People are hurt. And I’m not sure that it’s any more now than there was. I do think that the hate speech of the Democrats much more so is– is very dangerous. I really think it’s very dangerous for the country.
President Trump told us he hopes to move events like last night’s press gala to the new East Wing ballroom that he says is ahead of schedule though it won’t be ready until 2028. But he wants last night’s dinner to be rescheduled much sooner than that.
Norah O’Donnell: You are committed to doing this event with the White House Correspondents Dinner, it’s about freedom of the press.
President Trump: I want them, because I don’t want to see it be canceled. I don’t want to have a crazy person– I think it’s really bad for a crazy person to be able to cancel something like this. There are great people in the press too I can name, but I don’t want to– I don’t want to embarrass your show. We have some great people in the press, some very fair people, and people that are just on my side. But for the most part, it’s a very liberal or very progressive– let’s use the word liberal. Liberal press. But– I was just really– I was really happy to see the– the– I don’t know how long it’ll last– the relationship, the friendship, the spirit after a very bad event took place. Now, the event turned out to be much less bad because nobody was killed. Nobody was hurt. The Secret Service agent– had– I spoke to him. He had– a bulletproof vest on. Unbelievable.
Norah O’Donnell: He’s OK?
President Trump: Oh, he’s a hundred percent. Yeah, no. He was a hundred perc– he didn’t want to go to the hospital. He really didn’t. They asked him to go, and they– he said– he didn’t want to go. He said, “I don’t need to go to the hospital.” But he went because they asked him to go.
Norah O’Donnell: Well, I know the White House Correspondents’ Association very much appreciates you going last night and honoring a commitment to do it again.
President Trump: I hope we’re going to do it again. Norah, tell ’em to get it going, and we should do it within 30 days, and they’ll have even more security, and they’ll have bigger perimeter security. It’ll be fine. But tell ’em to do it again. We can’t let something be– it’s not that I wanna go. It’s no– I ha– I’m very busy. I don’t need that. I think it’s very important that they do it again.
Produced by Maria Gavrilovic and Keith Sharman. Associate producers, Madeleine Carlisle, Roxanne Feitel and Callie Teitelbaum. Broadcast associates, Georgia Rosenberg and Jane Greeley. Edited by Peter M. Berman and Mike Levine. Assistant editor, Aisha Crespo.
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