U.S. President Donald Trump appeared on a high-profile talk program right after the shooting targeting him and blamed Democrats and the mainstream media for the incident. When the host read part of the shooter's statement, Trump grew furious and said, "You are a disgrateful person."
The interview, hosted by CBS's flagship anchor Norah O'Donnell, aired on the 26th, the day after the shooting. In a roughly 20-minute conversation, Trump framed Democrats as the cause of the political violence aimed at him. At the same time, he used the shooting as an opportunity to stress the need to build a new White House banquet hall (ballroom).
The biggest clash came when O'Donnell read part of the shooter's statement. The statement, reportedly prepared in advance by suspect Cole Thomas Allen, 31, included language naming Trump administration officials as targets. It also contained the phrase "pedophile, rapist, traitor," interpreted as aimed at Trump. When O'Donnell uttered those words, Trump erupted, saying, "I knew you would read that. Terrible people." He then denied the accusations, saying, "I am not a rapist. I raped nobody. I am not a pedophile," and told O'Donnell, "You are a disgrateful person."
In the conversation, Trump interpreted the threats against him as stemming from his political stature. Asked why many people target him, he said, "People go after an influential president, a president who does things." Citing assassinated former presidents he had mentioned earlier at a White House briefing, such as Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley, he placed himself on the same plane. In other words, it appears to be an attempt to interpret the position of a political-violence victim in conjunction with an assessment of his achievements.
Regarding the problem of frequent political assassinations, Trump said, "It's always been there 20 years, 40 years, 100 years, 200 years, 500 years ago." He added, "I truly believe Democrats' hate speech is far more dangerous." While the shooter's exact motive and network are still currently investigating, he put the blame squarely on Democrats.
When describing his actions during the shooting, he emphasized composure. Asked whether he worried there might be injured people, he said, "I did not worry. I understand life. We live in a crazy world." Regarding the video of the shooter charging at the security checkpoint, he even showed levity, joking, "He ran about 45 yards," and "He was fast enough that the NFL should sign him."
He appeared sensitive when asked to address the fact that many officials in the presidential line of succession were in the same space, declining to answer directly. Instead, he said, "That ballroom is not safe. I am building a safe ballroom." It was a turn of a question about national succession risk into a justification for his construction project. Trump added, "The new White House ballroom will have bulletproof glass, top-tier security equipment, and a strong single entrance, and it will open in 2028."
When asked about conspiracy theories surrounding the incident, he brought in sensitive subjects like the Holocaust and World War II. Trump said, "(Their claims are) like saying there was no Oct. 7 (Hamas's attack on Israel), no World War II, and no Holocaust," and called conspiracy theorists "not so much grifters as sick people." On the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner, he said, "It has to be done again within 30 days," and, "It's really bad to let a crazy person cancel an event like this."
His stance, after having told the media the previous day that "I want to say the media coverage was very responsible," changed completely. Throughout the interview, Trump expressed a strongly negative view, saying, "The media and the Democrats are almost the same as one."
Trump then mentioned that the shooter attended a No Kings protest, saying, "The reason people like this show up is because there are people doing things like No Kings." The No Kings protests are an anti-Trump campaign that began last year under the banner "There are no kings in America (No Kings)" by those who view President Trump's governance as monarchical.
Trump claimed that a group called "Southern Law" funded the No Kings camp and supported the KKK (Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group) and radical organizations. He also said the 2017 Charlottesville incident was "funded by Southern Law" and "part of election rigging." The Charlottesville incident was a violent rally held from Aug. 11 to 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, by far-right forces such as white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the alt-right. Trump did not provide specific evidence for his claims.