Donald Trump Calls CBS News' Norah O'Donnell 'Disgraceful' For Asking About Gunman's Note

[0:00] You shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes, you're a disgrace, but go ahead, let's finish the interview. [0:05] President Donald Trump called CBS News' Nora O'Donnell a disgrace during a 60 Minutes interview Sunday [0:11] after she read out parts of the alleged gunman from the White House Correspondents Association dinner's note [0:16] he sent to family members before the attack, which was provided to NBC News by a senior White House official. [0:23] In the interview, O'Donnell asks Trump what his reaction to the suspect, [0:26] identified by a federal official familiar with the case as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen, [0:32] writing what appeared to be his motives for the attack on Saturday, April 25th, [0:35] leading to a testy exchange between Trump and the broadcast journalist. [0:39] And he also wrote this, I'm no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes. [0:48] What's your reaction to that? [0:49] Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you're horrible people, horrible people. [0:55] Yeah, he did write that. I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody. [1:00] Oh, you think, do you think he was referring to you? [1:02] Excuse me, excuse me. I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person. [1:08] I got associated with stuff that has nothing to do with me. [1:14] 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. [1:25] But I said to myself, you know, I'll do this interview and they'll probably, I read the manifesto, you know, as a sick person. [1:31] But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things. [1:37] Mr. President, these are the gunman's words. [1:39] 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. [1:46] The other thing that he wrote in the interview. [1:47] You're disgraceful. [1:48] O'Donnell then brought up how the alleged shooter claimed there was relaxed security at the hotel where the event was held, describing it as incompetent. [1:57] 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. [2:06] He checked in. He said he had cased the place and he wrote, what the hell is the Secret Service doing? [2:12] And he wrote this quote, I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, [2:19] metal detectors out the wazoo. What I got is nothing. [2:22] He wrote, like, this level of incompetence is insane. [2:27] Sir, you have already had two. [2:29] Well, he was pretty incompetent, too, because he got caught and he got caught pretty easily. [2:33] So I'd say he was pretty incompetent, too. [2:35] You know, I could take any event having to do with security or anything else. [2:39] I can always find fault, no matter what. [2:41] I can take a baseball team that won the game 18 to nothing and say they should have played better. [2:46] Those guys did a good job last night. [2:51] They did a really good job. [2:52] Now, do they make adjustments? [2:54] They do. [2:54] They learn. [2:55] They make adjustments. [2:57] We're living in a different world with the Internet than we had years ago. [3:02] But even years ago, it was very dangerous. [3:04] I mean, just ask Honest Abe Lincoln. [3:07] Pretty dangerous. [3:09] And but we are living a very, you know, the Internet, I think, maybe more than anything else. [3:15] It's radicalized some people. [3:17] It's made people mentally sick. [3:20] It's also a great thing. [3:21] It's a phenomenal thing. [3:22] With a leader in it, with a leader in AI, it's a great thing. [3:26] But you'll always find problems. [3:27] But it's a different, it's a different age. [3:30] It's a very different, it's a very different time. [3:35] In another moment from Sunday's interview, Trump said that he wanted to observe what was happening, which led to his delayed exit from the ballroom. [3:42] Well, what happened is it was a little bit me. [3:46] I wanted to see what was happening. [3:47] And I wasn't making it that easy for him. [3:50] I wanted to see what was going on. [3:53] 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. [4:06] And I was surrounded by great people. [4:11] And I probably made them act a little bit more slow. [4:15] I said, wait a minute, wait a minute. [4:17] Let me see. [4:18] Wait a minute. [4:18] So, you know, I'm telling guys. [4:19] Just at that moment where it looks like you go sort of down with the service, you were telling them to wait. [4:23] Well, no, what happened is then I started walking with them. [4:26] I turned, I started walking, and they said, please go down, please go down on the floor. [4:31] So I went down, and First Lady went down also. [4:35] But we were asked to go down by the agents as I was walking. [4:40] In other words, I was... [4:40] They wanted you almost to crawl out. [4:41] I was standing up, pretty much. [4:44] Trump additionally shared that he was in a conversation with Oz Perlman, who was guessing Press Secretary Caroline Levitz expected Baby's name when the shots first rang, [4:53] adding that he wasn't sure if the sound was gunfire or a tray of dishes. [4:57] He also praised how his wife and First Lady Melania Trump handled the incident, but refrained from sharing if she was scared. [5:03] Right after that, we heard a big bang, and it was either a gunshot or it was a tray of dishes, which happens a lot in ballrooms. [5:16] And I was hoping it was a tray, but it wasn't. [5:20] You mentioned the First Lady. [5:21] Her face, she looked very alarmed. [5:25] Was she scared? [5:25] Well, I don't want to 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? [5:35] I think she realized ahead of time that that was more of a bullet than it was a tray. [5:41] And she was, I looked at her face just a little while ago before I came. [5:47] I saw the scene. [5:48] They played it for me in, you know, pretty good close-up. [5:53] And she looked very upset about what just took place. [5:59] Yeah. [5:59] Why not? [6:02] At one point, Trump referenced the alleged gunman's speed, saying that the NFL should, quote, sign him up. [6:07] I can only say that from the moment they realized that he was, I mean, he ran like, I think the NFL should sign him up. [6:16] He was fast. [6:18] When you look at it on tape, it's almost like a blur. [6:20] Right. [6:21] But it was amazing because as soon as they saw that, you could see them drawing their guns. [6:26] They were so professional. [6:28] Aimed their guns, and then they took them down immediately. [6:32] The doors were sealed. [6:33] The room was sealed. [6:35] The ballroom itself, where the people were. [6:36] And they really, they really, I think they did a great job. [6:41] On Saturday, April 25th, Allen, who reportedly displayed anti-Trump sentiments in his writing, [6:47] sent to family members ahead of the attack, according to senior administration officials, [6:51] allegedly opened fire outside the White House Correspondents Association dinner. [6:55] Authorities said the 31-year-old engineer and teacher was armed with a shotgun, handgun, and knives, [7:00] and had checked into the hotel where the event was being held in the last day or two. [7:04] After exchanging fire with law enforcement, the Caltech graduate was tackled to the ground and subdued. [7:09] He is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday, April 27th. [7:15] Meanwhile, Trump expressed his hopes for the event to be rescheduled in the next 30 days. [7:18] Well, I know the White House Correspondents Association very much appreciates you going last night [7:26] and honoring a commitment to do it again. [7:28] I hope we're going to do it again. [7:30] Nora, tell him to get it going, and we should do it within 30 days, [7:35] and they'll have even more security, and they'll have bigger perimeter security. [7:41] It'll be fine. [7:42] But tell him to do it again. [7:43] We can't let something, it's not that I want to go, I'm very busy, I don't need that. [7:51] I think it's very important that they do it again.