Extended interview: President Trump on White House Correspondents' Dinner

[0:02] 60 Minutes Overtime. [0:06] Mr. President, thank you for doing this. [0:08] Thank you. [0:08] I'm glad you are safe. [0:10] I am glad that everyone is safe. [0:12] How are you doing? [0:14] I'm doing well. [0:15] It was quite an evening. [0:17] It was a very difficult thing to watch, frankly, [0:21] but doing very well. [0:24] Mr. President, do you know if you were the target of the gunman? [0:28] I don't know. [0:29] It sounded to me, I read a manifesto. [0:33] He's radicalized. [0:35] He was a Christian believer, and then he became an anti-Christian, [0:40] and he had a lot of change. [0:41] He's been going through a lot based on what he wrote. [0:45] His brother complained about him and I think reported him to the police, [0:48] and his sister, likewise, complained about him. [0:50] His family was very concerned. [0:53] He was probably a pretty sick guy. [0:56] Mm-hmm. [0:57] I want to get to all of those details and also walk through this, [1:01] what happened last night. [1:02] But first, this appears to be the third attempted assassination on your life, [1:08] the first in Butler, the second, of course, on the golf course in Florida. [1:13] Why do you think so many people may be trying to kill you? [1:17] So I've said it, and I've said it numerous times. [1:21] And I've actually, because of the position I'm in, [1:24] I've done quite a bit of research into the word assassination, terrible word. [1:31] And they go after consequential presidents. [1:34] They go after presidents that do things. [1:37] If you look at what I've done, we've turned this country around. [1:40] We've taken a country that was actually a dead country. [1:43] It was dying very rapidly. [1:45] And it's the hottest country anywhere in the world. [1:48] We had a skirmish, a war, whatever you want to call it, with Venezuela. [1:52] We won that very decisively. [1:54] And we now have a great relationship with Venezuela. [1:57] It's been a very profitable relationship. [2:00] And we're in Iran right now. [2:02] Other presidents should have done it, but they never chose to do it. [2:06] They should have. [2:06] They made a terrible mistake by not doing it. [2:09] It's tougher now than it would have been 10 years ago or even five years ago, [2:13] because thousands and thousands of missiles and everything else. [2:18] If we didn't do the B-2 bomber attack, that alone was a big deal. [2:22] The killing of Soleimani, which I did in my first term, was a big deal. [2:25] But when you're a consequential, when you do things, a lot of things, [2:29] and things that work out very well for our country, [2:32] Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. [2:35] McKinley was assassinated. [2:37] McKinley made the country very rich. [2:39] People don't realize that. [2:40] Then Teddy Roosevelt went out and spent the money that was made by McKinley. [2:45] But he was very consequential, actually. [2:47] But he was assassinated. [2:49] So you mentioned, Mr. President, consequential. [2:52] And your policies are also controversial. [2:55] Is that part of it? [2:56] Well, I don't think that way. [2:57] I don't think in terms of what they are. [2:59] I just think of what they are for the country. [3:01] For instance, I inherited the worst border we've ever had in the history of our country, [3:06] where 25 million people came in. [3:08] 25 million people, at least. [3:10] And many of them were from hardcore criminals. [3:13] And they were drug dealers. [3:15] And they were from prisons. [3:17] They emptied out prisons into our country. [3:19] They emptied out mental institutions, insane asylums into our country. [3:23] And I don't know if that's controversial to say we have to move those people out. [3:27] But we have. [3:28] But it is from the standpoint, you're doing something. [3:32] And you're doing something that's good. [3:35] Things like men playing in women's sports. [3:38] I'm against that. [3:39] Things like transgender for everyone. [3:42] I'm against that. [3:42] There's so many things that I'm against. [3:45] I don't think they're controversial. [3:46] I think the other side is controversial. [3:48] But I do a lot of things and I get things done. [3:51] And, you know, we're respected now as a country all over the world. [3:55] And some people love that, but some people probably don't. [3:59] Mr. President, I'm sure you've now had the opportunity to see [4:03] some of the pictures of what happened last night. [4:05] I have. [4:05] And I want to walk through that. [4:07] Sure. [4:07] It was just around 8.30 p.m. [4:10] You are sitting there next to the first lady. [4:13] The entertainer named Oz Perlman is talking to you. [4:17] He's known as the mentalist. [4:19] When did you know something was wrong? [4:22] Right around that point, in fact, you can see the [4:25] expression on the first lady's face. [4:29] And your president of the evening, chairman or president or both, [4:33] who was doing a great job, by the way. [4:35] Weijia Jiang of CBS News. [4:37] Yeah, she was a terrific person. [4:39] And she was, you know, she had this big smile. [4:43] I mean, they were, you know, they were talking to her. [4:45] They were asking the name of Caroline's child that he didn't know, I guess. [4:51] Your press secretary is expecting and he was trying to guess the baby's name. [4:54] That's right. [4:55] And that was the question. [4:57] That was what he and he was actually able to get it. [5:00] I'm not sure I'm a believer in this, but he was able to get it. [5:03] And the first lady and your associate were amazed. [5:09] You could see the shock on their faces. [5:11] It wasn't the shock about something outside. [5:14] But right after that, we heard a big bang. [5:17] And it was either a gunshot or it was a tray of dishes, which happens a lot in ballrooms. [5:27] And I was hoping it was a tray, but it wasn't. [5:28] You mentioned the first lady. [5:31] Her face, she looked very alarmed. [5:34] She was. [5:35] Was she scared? [5:37] Well, I don't want to say, and people don't like having it said that they were scared. [5:41] But certainly, I mean, who wouldn't be when you have a situation like that by that time? [5:45] I think she realized ahead of time that that was more of a bullet than it was a tray. [5:52] And she was, I looked at her face just a little while ago. [5:57] Before I came, I saw the scene. [5:59] They played it for me in, you know, pretty good close-up. [6:03] And she looked very upset about what just took place. [6:09] Yeah. [6:10] Why not? [6:10] You see the security moving quickly. [6:13] Within seconds, grabbing the vice president by his coat, lifting him up, bringing him out. [6:20] Then the counter-assault comes in, took 10 seconds for them to flank you, Mr. President, [6:26] and then 20 seconds to get you out. [6:28] It looked chaotic. [6:30] At one point, you were down. [6:31] What was happening? [6:32] Well, what happened is it was a little bit me. [6:35] I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn't making it that easy for him. [6:39] I wanted to see what was going on. [6:44] And by that time, we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, [6:50] bad one, and different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time. [6:56] And I was surrounded by great people, and I probably made them act a little bit more slow. [7:05] I said, wait a minute. [7:06] Wait a minute. [7:07] Let me see. [7:07] Wait a minute. [7:08] So, you know, I'm telling guys. [7:09] Just at that moment where it looks like you go sort of down with the service, [7:12] you were telling them to wait. [7:13] Well, you know, what happened is then I started walking with them. [7:16] I turned, I started walking, and they said, please go down. [7:19] Please go down on the floor. [7:21] So I went down, and the first lady went down also. [7:25] But we were asked to go down by the agents as I was walking. [7:30] In other words, I was... [7:30] They wanted you almost to crawl out. [7:31] I was standing up, pretty much. [7:33] I was standing up, and then turned around the opposite direction, [7:38] and started pretty much walking out pretty tall, a little bent over because, you know, [7:44] I'm not looking to be standing too tall. [7:47] But I was walking out. [7:50] It was pretty about halfway there, and they said, please go down to the floor. [7:53] Please go down to the floor. [7:54] So I dropped to the floor. [7:56] So did the first lady. [7:57] What was your thought at that moment? [7:58] What did the first lady say? [7:59] Well, my thought was, you know, I've been through this before a couple of times, [8:03] and she has not to this extent. [8:07] She handled it great. [8:08] I mean, she was, she's very strong, smart. [8:12] She got it. [8:12] She knew what was happening. [8:14] She listened. [8:14] I did too, by the way. [8:15] Because this was the first time she was. [8:17] Yeah, when they said drop down, that meant trouble. [8:20] And obviously, I'm the president, and I listened to what they said, [8:24] please drop down, sir, please drop down. [8:26] So I was walking halfway, and then I dropped down at the final, [8:30] because we had little ways to go where you're exposed to the ballroom, surroundings. [8:35] And then I got up, and we went to a hold room for a while, [8:42] and I tried to get them to continue the event, if possible. [8:46] You wanted to go back in. [8:47] I did. [8:48] I really did. [8:48] Because I don't like to have a criminal or a sick person or somebody, whoever he is, [8:54] you'll figure it out. [8:55] I mean, I think we're already figuring out. [8:57] He's a man with a lot of problems. [8:59] But you don't want to have somebody like this, you know, essentially attacking our constitution, [9:04] attacking our country, changing events that are, you know, it's an important event. [9:09] It was a very important. [9:10] A night celebrating the First Amendment and the freedom of the press. [9:13] That's right, exactly. [9:14] And this was a big, this was a record setter. [9:17] I mean, this was a very big, you know, the, that dinner had some problems for the last [9:22] nine years, and now, and I didn't help them. [9:25] And this time I went, and I felt really good being there. [9:30] There was a great camaraderie. [9:32] I wasn't sure what the response. [9:33] It was, you know, a lot of press, a lot of media. [9:37] And when I walked in, I got a very nice applause. [9:40] I wasn't sure. [9:40] I said, you know, I told my wife, I said, you know, I may walk in and they may give me [9:45] a hard time, or I may walk in and let's see what happens. [9:47] And I walked in and got very nice, a very, I think they were happy to see me there actually. [9:53] And I can tell you there, there's the biggest impact that I saw in the entire evening was, [9:59] and I say this being somebody that's had a lot of, well, let's say, [10:06] we've argued a little bit to get things that I want done. [10:09] I fight, I fight for a border and they fight for an open border. [10:12] And, you know, we have a lot of, a lot of differences. [10:14] You've had some tough words for the press in the back. [10:16] There was tremendous, there was tremendous, by this time the event had taken place, [10:21] people were starting to feel safe. [10:23] There was tremendous camaraderie. [10:25] I mean, I saw Democrats, I saw senators, I saw congressmen and women. [10:31] I saw people that weren't necessarily on my side, from the other party mostly, [10:36] pretty much the Republicans are on my side, so I'm not that, you know, surprised. [10:41] And they were going, way to go, way, there was spirit in that room. [10:45] I mean, it was like the whole country was together. [10:49] It was pretty amazing. [10:51] It made a big impression, it was very nice to see. [10:53] Do you think this will change your relationship with the press? [10:57] Well, look, for whatever reason, we disagree on a lot of subjects. [11:03] We talk about crime, I'm very strong on crime, it seems like the press isn't. [11:11] It's not so much the press, it's the press plus the Democrats, [11:14] because they're almost one and the same. [11:15] It's like the craziest thing. [11:18] I have the strongest border we've ever had in the country, where, as you know, [11:22] it said zero people for nine months came into our country through our southern border. [11:26] We have a very tough border. [11:28] Before me, 25 million people came in, I mean, whether it's 20 or 25 or 30, [11:33] but they say 25 million people came in. [11:36] Zero people. [11:37] We have people coming in legally. [11:38] Can I ask you something? [11:39] You said something. [11:40] But the other side doesn't like that. [11:42] There are things that I like that I think are very standard. [11:44] I want women to be able to play women. [11:47] I don't want men in women's sports. [11:49] And for whatever reason, the other side likes men in women's sports. [11:53] So when you say, get along. [11:55] But that's the other side. [11:56] I don't think I could ever, no, but I don't think I could ever change my [12:00] feelings on certain policies. [12:02] I want strong borders. [12:04] They want open borders. [12:06] There's such a difference. [12:08] Can I ask you, Mr. President? [12:09] I will say this though. [12:10] After the event, meaning it looked like things were good. [12:16] We knew he was caught. [12:17] I was given the information immediately. [12:20] There was a camaraderie that you just have not seen in a while. [12:24] It's very nice to see. [12:26] The President, you, Mr. President, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, [12:31] the Secretary of State, Secretary Hegseth, almost the entire line of presidential [12:37] succession was in that ballroom. [12:40] Who was the designated survivor? [12:43] Well, first of all, I have to say, it's not a safe ballroom. [12:47] I'm building a safe ballroom. [12:50] And one of the reasons I'm building it is exactly what happened last night. [12:54] I'm building a room right there. [12:57] If you walk out and move 20 yards to the left, you'll be right at the entrance to the ballroom. [13:02] And that ballroom is being built on the safest piece of property in this country, [13:06] probably one of the safest pieces of land in the world. [13:10] We have... [13:10] But that's owned, that's the White House. [13:13] The White House Correspondence Center can't use White House property. [13:16] It's able to be used by certainly the White House. [13:18] It says the White House Correspondence. [13:20] Well, that's the White House press. [13:21] I'm sure that it's available. [13:23] You know, it's up to the president, but that would be made available. [13:27] And this has bulletproof glass. [13:28] This has, you know, this is the highest level of security. [13:32] Also, very importantly, I could have built suites on top. [13:35] I could have done a lot of things. [13:36] And I said, no, no, we have... [13:37] This has to be pure. [13:39] This has to be where people stay off property and they go through one very impactful, [13:45] very strong entrance, one very powerful entrance. [13:49] There's no games with this. [13:50] This is the best, highest. [13:52] This has all sorts of security equipment at levels that you could never have in a regular [13:57] ballroom. [13:59] And we're ahead of schedule. [14:00] We're right on budget ahead of schedule. [14:02] I wish it could be even sooner, but we're, you know, months ahead of schedule. [14:07] But it doesn't open till 28. [14:10] So, you know, that means you have another season and a half to go. [14:13] Right. [14:14] But this is exactly why the military and this is exactly why secret service and all law enforcement [14:22] wanted because you have maybe a thousand hotel rooms above the ballroom we were in last night. [14:28] And I'm not knocking it. [14:29] I'm just saying in terms of maximum security, it's not the best thing. [14:34] You can do it, but you can have problems like this. [14:37] They have an elevator that comes down from the rooms. [14:40] It's very close to the ballroom, which makes sense. [14:44] So we're doing something that's going to have a tremendous impact on solving this problem. [14:51] In that video, you can see the gunman running through the metal detectors. [14:58] And he fired off one or two rounds. [15:00] His speed was rather incredible, actually. [15:03] It was like a blur. [15:04] How did he get that close with the place swarming with security? [15:08] I will say, look, I say it because I'm a big fan of the people of law enforcement. [15:14] And, you know, some of these people, they may be crazy, but they're not stupid. [15:19] And they figure things out. [15:21] He ran 45 yards, they say, and he just went to it. [15:25] And then, boom, he popped through it. [15:28] A thing like that could happen. [15:30] I would say this, having the equipment on the outside of the building maybe is better [15:36] than having it on the inside of the building. [15:38] Sometimes that's tough. [15:39] Sometimes it's horrendous weather. [15:41] Sometimes it's pouring. [15:43] It's raining. [15:44] Lots of things happen. [15:45] But maybe last night was actually quite nice. [15:48] The weather was beautiful. [15:49] So maybe something like that has to take place. [15:53] I can only say that from the moment they realized that he was, I mean, he ran like, [15:59] I think the NFL should sign him up. [16:00] He was fast. [16:02] When you look at it on the table, it's almost like a blur. [16:04] Right. [16:05] But it was amazing, because as soon as they saw that, you could see them drawing their guns. [16:10] They were so professional. [16:12] Aimed their guns, and then they took them down immediately. [16:16] The doors were sealed. [16:17] The room was sealed. [16:19] The ballroom itself, where the people were. [16:20] And they really, I think they did a great job. [16:24] I was in the room, not far from you, Mr. President. [16:27] Could hear what sounded like gunshots or commotion. [16:30] Right. [16:31] People nearby could smell the gunpowder. [16:34] Everybody hit the floor. [16:35] There were a number of people who were very, very scared. [16:39] Yeah. [16:41] How worried were you that there were going to be injuries? [16:44] I wasn't worried. [16:50] I understand life. [16:51] We live in a crazy world. [16:56] You can really enhance your chances of having a perfect situation, but sometimes things will happen. [17:03] And I did want to see what was happening, because, you know, I'm the president. [17:08] In one way, I guess I should be hiding. [17:10] In another way, I want to see if I can be helpful. [17:12] But I did watch, because I could see what was going on at the door. [17:17] I also saw a lot of very strong, physically strong, really attractive law enforcement people [17:26] come through those doors. [17:28] And frankly, it made me feel very safe, very, very safe. [17:31] There's nobody going to get by them. [17:33] And this was at the very back of the ballroom, looking at the back of the ballroom. [17:36] The counter assault team that comes in. [17:38] Yeah, they were very impressive. [17:39] I think they were very impressive. [17:41] I think the whole operation was very impressive. [17:43] The only thing you could say is maybe they could move that counterpoint out deeper. [17:49] In other words, move it to the outside of the building. [17:51] Let's talk about that. [17:53] Mr. President, I wonder how much has the Secret Service and the FBI briefed you [17:57] about this suspect, Cole Thomas Allen. [18:00] Mr. President, have you read what a senior U.S. official is describing to us as a manifesto? [18:07] Yeah. [18:07] Did you know that he emailed it to family members? [18:11] We found all of that out this morning. [18:13] Right before the attack. [18:14] Yeah, we found that out this morning. [18:16] And the family members were concerned. [18:19] I think the brother called up the police. [18:21] I think the sister may have called the police. [18:24] The parents were rather devastated. [18:26] He lived with the parents. [18:27] I saw the parents last night on television opening the door. [18:30] I assume that was his parents. [18:32] Look, you have sick people and you have to mitigate the risk. [18:39] But some of these sick people, it's amazing. [18:41] Some of the, they're very sick, but they're also in some cases very, very smart. [18:45] He went to a great school. [18:46] I can tell you the person in Butler, I don't know if you ever looked at his academic credentials. [18:52] He had almost 1600 on his college boards, 1600. [18:57] Nobody has. [18:57] I mean, it's the upper 99.9 percentile or something. [19:03] And he was a crazy person, but a smart, crazy person. [19:09] I think the law enforcement did a great job last night. [19:14] Let me ask you. [19:15] I guess if they didn't, I wouldn't be here. [19:17] But I think they really did a great job. [19:20] Now, can you make adjustments? [19:22] We're also learning. [19:23] Can you make adjustments? [19:24] I think the only adjustment would be you move your security equipment further away. [19:29] But it was, it was about 50 yards away. [19:32] 50 yards is a lot of yards. [19:34] Now, when a guy's running at that speed, he was a very fast person. [19:39] And he got him by a little bit by surprise. [19:41] But that didn't matter because he was totally subdued very shortly after he passed out one point. [19:47] The so-called manifesto is a stunning thing to read, Mr. President. [19:51] He appears to reference a motive in it. [19:54] He writes this quote, administration officials, they are targets. [19:58] And he also wrote this. [20:00] I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes. [20:06] What's your reaction to that? [20:07] Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would. [20:10] Because you're, you're, you're horrible people, horrible people. [20:14] Yeah, he did write that. [20:15] Uh, I'm, I'm not a rapist. [20:17] I didn't rape anybody. [20:18] Uh, I'm not a pedophile. [20:19] Oh, you think, do you think he was referring to you? [20:21] Excuse me, excuse me. [20:23] I'm not a pedophile. [20:24] You read that crap from some sick person. [20:28] I got associated with all the stuff that has nothing to do with me. [20:33] I was totally exonerated. [20:35] Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, let's say, [20:42] Epstein or other things. [20:44] But I said to myself, you know, I'll do this interview and they'll probably, [20:48] I read the manifesto, you know, as a sick person. [20:51] But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things. [20:56] Mr. President, these are the gunman's words. [20:58] Excuse me. [21:00] You shouldn't be reading that on 60 Minutes. [21:02] You're a disgrace. [21:03] But go ahead. [21:03] Let's finish the interview. [21:05] The other thing that he wrote in the manifesto that I think is [21:10] worth looking at in terms of determining his motive is he had been staying at the hotel [21:15] since Friday. [21:16] He checked in. [21:17] He said he had cased the place and he wrote, [21:19] What the hell is the Secret Service doing? [21:21] And he wrote this quote, [21:22] I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, [21:26] armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo. [21:30] What I got is nothing. [21:31] He wrote like this level of incompetence is insane. [21:36] Sir, you have already had two. [21:38] Well, he was pretty incompetent too because he got caught and he got caught pretty easily. [21:42] So I'd say he was pretty incompetent too. [21:44] You know, I could take any event having to do with security or anything else. [21:49] I can always find fault no matter what. [21:50] I can take a baseball team that won the game 18 to nothing and say they should have played better. [21:56] I can't do it. [21:58] Those guys did a good job last night. [22:00] They did a really good job. [22:01] Now, do they make adjustments? [22:03] They do. [22:03] They learn. [22:04] They make adjustments. [22:06] We're living in a different world with the internet than we had [22:10] years ago. [22:11] But even years ago, it was very dangerous. [22:13] I mean, just ask honest Abe Lincoln, pretty dangerous. [22:18] And but we are living a very, you know, the internet, I think maybe more than anything else. [22:24] It's radicalized some people. [22:26] It's made people mentally sick. [22:29] It's also a great thing. [22:30] It's a phenomenal thing with a leader in it. [22:32] We are with a leader in AI. [22:34] It's a great thing, but you'll always find problems. [22:37] But it's a different, it's a different age. [22:39] It's a very different, it's a very different time. [22:43] I mentioned that because again, as his motive, you brought this up. [22:47] He had social media accounts that had anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric. [22:53] You should read. [22:53] Why don't you read all the anti-Trump? [22:55] Why don't you read it? [22:56] You just did. [22:57] So why don't you read it? [22:59] Well, he had a lot of anti-Christian rhetoric. [23:02] He had, he was part of a group called the Wide Awakes. [23:05] He had attended a no kings protest in California. [23:08] No kings. [23:09] What did security tell you about what may have been his motives? [23:12] The reason you have people like that is you have people doing no kings. [23:15] I'm not a king. [23:16] What I am, if I was a king, I wouldn't be dealing with you. [23:21] No, I'm not a king. [23:22] I get it. [23:23] I don't laugh. [23:24] I don't, I see these no kings, which are funded just like the Southern law was funded. [23:31] You saw all that Southern laws financing the KKK and lots of other radical, terrible groups. [23:39] And then they go out and they say, oh, we've got to stop the KKK. [23:42] And yet they give them hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars. [23:47] It's a total scam run by the Democrats. [23:50] It shows you that like Charlottesville, Charlottesville was all funded by the Southern law. [23:55] That was a Southern law deal too. [23:57] And it was done to make me look bad and it turned out to be a total fake. [24:00] It basically was a rigged election. [24:03] This was a part of the rigging of the election. [24:06] And that's what you really should be doing. [24:08] I mean, I hope one of your 60 minute episodes, which really hasn't changed very much for the [24:13] last few years, I'm surprised. [24:14] But one of those episodes should be on Southern law and the fact that they spent millions and [24:21] millions of dollars on absolute far right and just bad, bad groups. [24:26] And then they'd use those groups and they'd say, these are Republican groups and we're coming to [24:31] your rescue. [24:32] And they're the ones that have funded it. [24:34] And they're the ones that kept them, keep them going. [24:37] Pretty, pretty sad. [24:37] Do you think it's pretty sad, Nora? [24:39] The allegations and the indictment laid out by- [24:41] They're not just allegations. [24:42] It was an indictment laid out by- [24:43] These are facts, okay? [24:44] These are facts. [24:45] I mean, they have checks to the Ku Klux Klan and many others. [24:48] And then they're saying how bad they are and blaming the Republican party and Republicans. [24:53] These are not just allegations, but go ahead. [24:55] Well, as you know, sir, you've been accused of things and were able to go to a court of law [24:59] and adjudicate them. [25:00] So, allegations and indictments- [25:02] After five years, it's true. [25:03] It takes you about five years. [25:05] I do want to talk about that. [25:06] Well, I've also, I've also won a lot of money from fake news media where they write [25:12] falsely about me and not that I want to sue people because I don't, but I bring lawsuits [25:18] against the fake news. [25:19] I brought lawsuits against your network and you paid me $38 million because you did something [25:24] that was so horrible. [25:25] With Kamala, you put an answer down that wasn't responsive to the question because her answer, [25:33] her real answer was so bad, it was election-threatening and you paid me a lot of money. [25:40] You tried to pull one off. [25:41] It was terrible. [25:42] It was a terrible thing that you did. [25:44] And, you know, when you say, can we all get along? [25:47] You can, but when people do things like that, how about the BBC where the BBC has me actually [25:54] AI. [25:54] They have me saying a horrible statement. [25:56] I said, I never said that. [25:58] It turned out they gave me an AI, a little AI achievement where they have my lips speaking [26:03] words of hate, tremendous hate that I never said. [26:06] They don't know what to do. [26:07] They've admitted they're wrong. [26:09] They just don't know what to do. [26:10] They actually have me making a major statement and it wasn't me. [26:14] It was my face. [26:16] It was my lips. [26:17] My lips were perfectly in sync with the words. [26:20] I said, I can't believe it. [26:22] I can't believe it. [26:23] So, I hear you, Mr. President. [26:25] So then when you say, can you get along? [26:27] I can get along with anybody, but if people are going to cheat, if people are going to be fake, [26:33] you sort of don't want to get along. [26:36] On that, what do you say to people who are encouraging political violence or even cheering it on? [26:44] Well, I think the ones that are doing that are much more far left than far right, much more. [26:51] When you see, again, Southern law, when you see some of the statements that are made that are so, [26:56] even when you say no kings, that's encouraging. [27:00] You're saying, one of the things this guy said in his manifesto, which you didn't read, [27:04] you should have, is that he attended a no kings rally, along with not too many people, [27:11] and probably it had an impact. [27:13] You know, they get up and they say whatever they want. [27:16] No, I'm against that. [27:17] I think it's terrible. [27:19] Also at the dinner last night was your secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [27:24] His sister, Kerry Kennedy, was there. [27:27] They've both witnessed their father and their uncle be assassinated. [27:31] That's right. [27:32] Erica Kirk was there. [27:34] The house majority leader, Steve Scalise, was there. [27:37] Yeah. [27:38] Political violence has touched so many people in that room. [27:43] Is there something that you as president can do? [27:46] What can be done to change the trajectory? [27:49] Well, you know, you go back 20 years, 40 years, 100 years, 200 years, 500 years, [27:57] it's always been there. People are assassinated. People are injured. People are hurt. [28:05] And I'm not sure that there's any more now than there was. [28:08] I do think that the hate speech of the Democrats, much more so, is very dangerous. [28:14] I really think it's very dangerous for the country. [28:16] I think the fact that I've accomplished so much, I've made our country great again. [28:20] I mean, this country was dead. Our country was dead. [28:22] A year and a half ago, sleepy Joe Biden had no idea what he was doing. [28:27] I don't think it was him either. I think it was the people that surround him in the Oval Office [28:32] at the beautiful, resolute desk. I don't think he knew what he was doing. [28:35] He didn't sign anything. He used the auto pen to sign 90% of the things. [28:39] I think that they engendered, I mean, they really created a tremendous amount of anger and hate. [28:47] Our country was dead, and now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. [28:51] Nope, not even close. [28:52] Last night... [28:53] As an example, investments in our country, for four years, less than $1 trillion under Biden. [29:00] In 11 months, $18 trillion under Trump. Now, most people are happy about that, [29:06] but some people are really angry about it. You know why? Because it means we should be around [29:11] for a long time, and they don't want that to happen. [29:13] Last night, you had very much a tone of unity when you were in the White House press briefing room. [29:19] I think so, yeah. I think I really felt very calm. I feel very calm, and I feel very calm right now, [29:27] other than a couple of your questions, which are meant to antagonize and totally inappropriate, [29:33] but I feel very calm. I thought last night was a very important thing to do, and people have said, [29:39] I did it well. Not an easy thing to do. You know, you leave a scene like that, and then you're supposed to [29:47] let our country and even the world know that it's going to be okay. [29:50] And what about, when we're talking about the division in this country, the political violence, [29:57] now many of your cabinet secretaries live on military bases in order to, because of the potential threats [30:06] against them? Well, they choose to. I'm not sure that they need to. They also have nice places, [30:13] you know. Democrats did the same thing. Some of the housing on the military bases is very nice. I'm [30:19] not sure they do it necessarily for violence, but probably this is not the worst thing in the world. [30:24] Look, they're doing, we are consequential. This is a consequential presidency. I have a great cabinet, [30:31] and they do things that are very good, but some people, you know, if they're good for us, [30:35] they're not good for other people. Like, as an example, Iran, when they're not going to have a [30:38] nuclear weapon, they will not have, they're not going to blow up the world. They're crazy. They're [30:42] not going to blow up the world, and therefore, they're not happy. And when they're not happy, [30:48] people do things that are violent. Now, I'm not tracing anything back to them, but certainly, [30:53] if they had a shot, they'd probably take it. So, when you're a consequential president, or if you have [31:00] a consequential administration, things happen that wouldn't happen if you're sleepy Joe Biden. [31:08] Everyone was happy with Biden. The world was happy. You know why they were happy? Because they were [31:12] taking advantage of us, because they treated the United States like we were stupid people, [31:18] and they made a lot of money, but they don't do that anymore. [31:21] Mm-hmm. Last night was going to be your first attendance at the White House Correspondents' [31:25] Dinner. That's right. As president. I was looking forward to making a speech. [31:29] Mm-hmm. And would have been a lot different had I gone up, and had I stayed, it was very [31:34] interesting, because I said, I can't make that speech. I was going to do a pretty, uh, [31:40] Tell me. Rip-roaring, oh, I won't go into the total details, but no, I was going to hit people [31:44] really hard with humor. In other words, really hard with humor. And I thought it was good. When this [31:52] happened, and I wanted it to go forward, because I just didn't want it canceled by a crazy person. [31:58] Our country's too good for that. Our country's too important for that, and too powerful for that. [32:04] I didn't want that to happen. But I said to him, and I thought it would go up. I was expecting until [32:09] the last moment when the military came, and Secret Service, and law enforcement. [32:15] Why did they say you couldn't go back when you were saying, I want to go back? [32:17] Because we had a very sealed room. It was very airtight. Once the doors opened, and the [32:25] Secret Service, military, others came in, the police came in, the law enforcement, they came in. [32:30] A lot of them. We had a lot of law enforcement. And it was a wall. But the doors were open. It was [32:36] breached by them. If somebody happened to slip in, and when they said that, I said, you're right. [32:43] But I did want to go, but it would have been a much different speech. I would have had to just [32:47] get up and say, I love you all. And there was love in the room. It was amazing. There was love in the [32:53] room. And why do you think that is? Why do you think that the tone changed? [32:56] People came together. Democrats that truly can't stand me were saying, sir, could I just shake your [33:04] hand? I mean, I'm, I'm leaving and I'm seeing people, you know, high level people. And they're [33:09] saying, sir, great job. Sir, could I, one of them, I don't want to, you probably have it on tape [33:17] someplace. One of them said, could I hug you? A big politician on the other side. There was love. [33:24] It just all came together. It was very amazing to see. It was a very beautiful thing. In a non-beautiful [33:31] moment, really. But it was a very beautiful thing that was happening. [33:34] Mm-hmm. I hesitate to ask you about this, but as you know, these conspiracy theories out there [33:40] on the left and the right, that the event was staged or that it didn't happen. [33:44] What, last night didn't happen? That, uh, yeah, that it was, because it was your first time there, [33:49] or that Butler didn't happen. These conspiracy theories that are gaining traction on the internet. [33:53] October 7th didn't happen, and World War II didn't happen, and the Holocaust didn't happen, [33:59] and many things didn't happen. Yeah, no one hears it. I, I don't know. I, I think they're more sick [34:05] than they are con people, but there's a lot of con in it, too. I haven't heard that last night didn't [34:10] happen. What, usually it takes a little bit longer. Yeah. Usually they wait about two or three months to [34:16] start saying that. I think that it was, I think that, and forgive me, I'm not, I don't peddle in that [34:20] stuff or certainly look at it, because we, I was there. Um, but the idea, I'm wondering where this [34:26] is coming from. That'd be a tough one, I think. This is coming from. That'd be a tough, I think that'd be a tough sale. [34:30] Yeah. Secret Service now is currently meeting, as they always do, to discuss your security footprint. [34:36] The king is coming here. King of England. I think it's great. He'll be very safe, yeah. [34:41] Yeah. And you're going to be able to go, go forward. You're no, no concerns about security [34:46] going forward. The white house grounds are really safe. This area of not very many acres. [34:54] It's really safe. And he'll be staying here now. I believe he's going to a couple of other locations [35:00] because he's here for a few days and he's a great guy. Oh, he, they called and they are so [35:06] looking forward to being here. We spoke this morning. So he, the, the king is fine. He's still [35:12] coming the week. Your, your events are still going forward. He's a good, he's a good person. [35:16] There's no indication from the Secret Service or the FBI that there's an additional threat [35:20] to you or other administration officials. No, no. This was a lone wolf in my opinion. [35:26] Now, but we may find out something else. This was a sick lone wolf. He's a sicko [35:31] and a very disturbed person. You could see it with his journey through life. I mean, [35:37] he was a Christian. He was a member of the Christian club at his college, Caltech, [35:42] which is a good college. I'm sure they're very embarrassed by this because, you know, [35:45] it's a great college. So that means he's pretty smart to be in. He got to get pretty good marks, [35:52] got to get pretty good board scores. It's a hard school to get into. So he's a smart guy, [35:58] but he's a sick guy. Yeah, that's the problem. I mean, it would be a lot easier if they weren't [36:02] smart. Some of them are very smart and they go around and all they want to do is kill people. [36:10] They're sick and they have to be put away. I understand today is the first lady's birthday. [36:15] Is that right? Today's her birthday. Yes. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Melania. [36:23] How does that, how do you deal with that after, after what happened last night? Yeah, [36:27] by the time we get back here, it's like around 12 o'clock and I said, happy birthday, darling. [36:32] And you were back here in the White House, I understand in five minutes. [36:36] Well, they, they move fast. Yeah. Yeah. They move fast. I mean, [36:39] look, it's a pretty quick drive. It's not very far away, but I think of it, [36:44] the security of having this really perfect facility built at the highest, highest security levels on the [36:51] grounds where you're not taking, I'm talking about any president. By the way, other presidents [36:57] would use the ballroom a lot more than me. I'm going to have four or five months left, [37:02] but other presidents will be having, having the, the, you know, that tremendous asset is going to be so [37:08] great. But outside of that, it's dangerous. You know, you need tremendous that you could never build. [37:15] You can't have thousands of rooms on top of a ballroom and have security, real security. Now, [37:20] with that being said, I hope they do this event again and I hope they do it again soon. [37:26] And if you are committed to doing this event with the White House Correspondents [37:29] Center, it's about freedom of the press. I want them because I don't want to see [37:32] it be canceled. I don't want to have a crazy person. I think it's really bad for a crazy person to be [37:39] able to cancel something like this to, you know, I remember with a certain event that took place, [37:45] I don't even like mentioning it where they had sports games going on and it was a big decision. [37:50] Do we cancel the games or do we not? And when you cancel, you're sort of playing right into the [37:55] hands of these nutjobs and they are really sick people. I don't want to have an event like that. [38:03] It was a great event. That was an event. So I refused to do it the first four years because [38:08] I felt the press treated me very unfairly. I had the right not to do it. I didn't do it. And the thing [38:12] died, it was dying. And I, even though the press treats me pretty badly, it's hard to treat me. [38:21] Look, I won the election, you know, people were fighting me, everybody, not everybody. I have some, [38:26] there are great people in the press too. I can name but I don't want to, I don't want to embarrass [38:30] your show. We have some great people in the press, some very fair people and people that are just on [38:34] my side. But for the most part, it's a very liberal or very progressive, let's use the word, [38:39] liberal press. But I was just really, I was really happy to see the, I don't know how long to last, [38:50] the relationship, the friendship, the spirit after a very bad event took place. Now, [38:57] the event turned out to be much less bad because nobody was killed, nobody was hurt. The secret [39:02] service agent had, I spoke to him, he had a bulletproof vest on. Unbelievable. [39:08] He's okay. Oh, he's 100%. Yeah, no, he was 100%. He didn't want to go to the hospital. [39:13] He really didn't. They asked him to go. He didn't want to go. He said, I don't need to go to the [39:16] hospital. But he went because they asked him to go. I would have said to tell him not to, [39:20] if he doesn't want to go, what do you force him to go for? Because then the press would say, [39:24] oh, he was badly hurt. No, he didn't want to go to the hospital and they forced him to go. And I'm [39:29] not saying they're wrong, but I would have said, if he doesn't want to go, don't make him go. [39:33] Well, I know the White House Correspondents Association very much appreciates you going [39:38] last night and honoring a commitment to do it again. I hope we're going to do it again. [39:43] Nora, tell him to get it going and we should do it within 30 days and they'll have even more security [39:51] and they'll have bigger perimeter security. It'll be fine. But tell him to do it again. We can't let [39:58] something. It's not that I want to go. I'm very busy. I don't need that. I think it's very important [40:05] that they do it again. Well, thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much.