Topline
President Donald Trump criticized CBS News host Norah O’Donnell, calling her a “disgrace”, after she read out a portion of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter’s alleged manifesto, where he mentions allegations of sexual misconduct without naming anyone directly.
Key Facts
During the interview, Trump was asked about the purported document, in which O’Donnell said he appears to mention a motive and writes, “Administrative officials, they are targets.”
O’Donnell then read out unsubstantiated allegations made in the manifesto, where he wrote: “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
The president reacted angrily to the manifesto being read out during the interview, and said he knew O’Donnell would read that, “Because you’re horrible people.”
Trump said, “I am not a rapist, I didn’t rape anybody,” and when the interviewer asked if he thinks the shooter was mentioning him, the president retorted, “I am not a pedophile.”
Trump chastised O’Donnell for reading “crap” written by “some sick person,” before calling her a “disgrace” and saying she should be “ashamed of yourself.”
What Else Did Trump Say About The Shooting?
When O’Donnell asked Trump how worried he was when he realized a gunman had entered the area, Trump responded: “I wasn’t worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world.” When asked about First Lady Melania Trump’s reaction to the shooting, the president said: “People don’t like having it said that they were scared. But who wouldn’t be when you have a situation like that?” The president later said, “My thought was, ‘I’ve been through this a couple of times before. She [Melania] has not to this extent. She handled it great.”
Tangent
The president also said he wants the dinner to be rescheduled, because he doesn’t want “a crazy person to be able to cancel something like this.” Trump said he hopes “we’re going to do it again…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.” He then added: “It’s not that I want to go, I’m very busy, I don’t need that. I think it’s very important that they do it again.”
