President Donald Trump has survived his third assassination attempt, and following 2024's incidents in Butler and West Palm Beach, the White House Correspondents' Dinner has been marred by violence.
Over 2,500 guests were gathered at the Washington Hilton, with the all-star event boasting the vice president, first lady, and the POTUS himself. Shocking scenes saw JD Vance, Melania Trump, and
Donald Trump rushed to safety, and in the aftermath, the president has spoken out about what went down in those blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments.
The irony isn't lost that this is the same hotel where President Ronald Reagan was nearly assassinated by John Hinkley Jr. in 1981, but whereas the 40th President of the United States was hospitalized after he was hit in the left underarm, President Trump made it out of the White House Correspondents' Dinner unharmed.
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As federal agents look into the motive of the suspect, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from California's 'manifesto' has been leaked.
While President Trump was undoubtedly lucky following his latest assassination attempt, he told 60 Minutes' Norah O'Donnell he wasn't worried as shots rang out at the event. With O'Donnell pressing the president on whether this will change his relationship with the press, Trump said he disagrees with a lot of outlets on various issues and claims that while he's strong on crime, the press apparently isn't.
He went on to discuss his stance on border control and the recent ICE deportations, called out the Democrats for fuelling apparent hate toward him, and then O'Donnell discussed the manifesto's mention of a motive.
In the letter attributed to Allen, it states: "I am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crime."
Not holding back, a gutsy O'Donnell said: "What's your reaction?"
A vexed Trump sniped back, saying: "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. I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody."
O'Donnell jumped straight in to add: "Do you think he was referring to you?"
He went on to interrupt her and continued: "I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person. I got associated with all [that] 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, let's say, Epstein or other things.
“But I said to myself, 'You know, I'll do this interview and they'll probably read the manifesto'.”
Referring to Allen as a 'sick person', the president concluded: "But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that, because I'm not any of those things."
Many cheered O'Donnell's composed response as she asked whether Trump thought the manifesto was referring to him despite the fact that he wasn't officially named in the 'rapist' segment.
Replying to the video, one person simply called it 'delicious' while another said: "Best part of the interview....smh...stepped right into it😆."
Another laughed: "Bro instantly caved before he even knew what it was about."
Not everyone was on O'Donnell's side, as a third chimed in: "This is how bad the left are, they accuse you of something nonstop, and then when you respond they say,' Aha, so you think it's about you!' like it's a little girl's playground interrogation."
While President Trump has brushed off yet another assassination attempt against him, it seems he's taking no prisoners when being asked about why it happened in the first place.