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President Donald Trump berated CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell and “60 Minutes” Sunday night after reading from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting suspect’s alleged manifesto.
Trump sat down for an interview after authorities identified the suspect as 31-year-old Cole Allen, of Torrance, Calif., adding that he prepared a manifesto outlining his intent and shared anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on social media.
O’Donnell read alleged portions of the document that alluded to concerns over a rapist and a pedophile and asked for Trump’s reaction.
TRUMP ADMITS HE ‘WASN’T MAKING IT THAT EASY’ FOR SECRET SERVICE DURING WHCD SHOOTING
President Trump made a statement after the cancellation of the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner after a possible shooting. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
“Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you’re horrible people,” Trump answered. “Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”
“Do you think he was referring to you?” O’Donnell asked.
“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, let’s 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,” Trump said.
O’Donnell interrupted to argue that she was quoting the alleged gunman’s words, but Trump continued to call her “disgraceful.”
TRUMP PRAISES PRESS AFTER WHCD SHOOTING, SAYS UNITY AT DINNER WAS ‘BEAUTIFUL’
President Donald Trump criticized “60 Minutes” during his interview following the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“You shouldn’t be reading that on ’60 Minutes.’ You’re a disgrace. But go ahead. Let’s finish the interview,” Trump said.
During the interview, Trump was also noncommittal about whether he believes the shooting will change his relationship with mainstream media.
“Look, for whatever reason, we disagree on a lot of subjects. 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 and the same. It’s the craziest thing,” Trump said.
Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
TRUMP PRAISED FOR ‘STRENGTH’ IN MOMENTS AFTER SHOTS RANG OUT AS EYEWITNESS DESCRIBES ‘TERRIBLE’ SCENE
President Donald Trump previously appeared on “60 Minutes” in Nov. 2025. (Getty Images)
Trump last appeared on “60 Minutes” in Nov. 2025. During an extended version of the interview, Trump taunted “60 Minutes” after CBS News and its parent company Paramount paid the president a $16 million settlement. Trump previously sued the news organization for allegedly editing an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“And actually ’60 Minutes’ paid me a lot of money. And you don’t have to put this on because I don’t want to embarrass you, and I’m sure you’re not,” he said, before pointing to Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief of CBS News, taking over. “I think you have a great new leader, frankly, because the young woman that’s leading your whole enterprise is a great, from what I know, I don’t know her, but I hear she’s a great person.”
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“But ‘60 Minutes’ was forced to pay me a lot of money because they took [Harris’] answer out that was so bad,” he continued.
That interview was his first time appearing on the show since Oct. 2020 during his first presidential term.
‘ Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
