President Donald Trump called CBS News 60 Minutes host Norah O’Donnell a “horrible” person and a “disgrace” for reading a portion of the suspected White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooter’s alleged manifesto that called him a rapist and a pedophile.
Trump sat down for an interview just a day after 31-year-old California teacher Cole Tomas Allen was apprehended while allegedly attempting to kill administration officials attending the dinner in Washington, DC, and soured when O’Donnell brought up the accusations made against him in the manifesto.
“The so-called manifesto is a stunning thing to read, Mr. President,” the 60 Minutes host said. “He appears to reference a motive in it. He writes this, ‘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.’”
When asked for his reaction, Trump replied, “Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would. Because […] you’re horrible people. Horrible people.”
“Yeah, he did write that,” the president continued. “I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”
O’Donnell smugly interjected with, “Oh, you think he was referring to you?”
“Excuse me — excuse me,” Trump shot back. “I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person.”
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He went on to say he was “totally exonerated,” and claimed that O’Donnell’s “friends on the other side” of the political aisle are the ones who “were involved with” sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.
“I said to myself, ‘You know, I’ll do this interview, and they’ll probably read the manifesto,’” Trump continued, before calling Allen a “sick person” and O’Donnell a “disgrace” for sharing his words.
“You should be ashamed of yourself reading that, because I’m not any of those things […] you shouldn’t be reading that on 60 minutes. You’re a disgrace. But go ahead, let’s finish the interview,” the president said.
The entire manifesto being attributed to Allen was published by the New York Post. He later called Trump a “pedophile” a second time when describing his alleged targets, which notably excluded FBI Director Kash Patel:
Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest
Secret Service: they are targets only if necessary, and to be incapacitated non-lethally if possible (aka, I hope they’re wearing body armor because center mass with shotguns messes up people who *aren’t*
Hotel Security: not targets if at all possible (aka unless they shoot at me)
Capitol Police: same as Hotel Security
National Guard: same as Hotel Security
Hotel Employees: not targets at all
Guests: not targets at all
In order to minimize casualties I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls)
I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.
Allen allegedly shared this manifesto with family shortly before the incident on Saturday night, prompting his brother to alert authorities.
WATCH — Trump Calls for Unity After White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting:
He was then stopped by law enforcement while he allegedly attempted to storm through security at the Washington Hilton hotel while armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was near the security screening area outside the ballroom when he said he witnessed the gunman fire a “very serious weapon” at least six times, reporting that the shooter “seemed to have gone through the metal detector, but he had a weapon and he was firing a weapon.”
“I did see the gunman on the ground after he started shooting. Police officers threw him to the ground but he was still shooting. And I could hear the shots going off,” Blitzer said.
Trump held a news conference at the White House soon after the incident, announcing that “a man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of the Secret Service.”
The president noted that one law enforcement officer was injured after getting shot in his bulletproof vest but was in “great shape.”
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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