On Sunday April 26 President Donald J. Trump sat down with Norah O’Donnell for a CBS “60 Minutes” interview the day after a shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
That evening a 13-minute edit of the interview aired on CBS. The network also published the full 40-minute version on “60 Minutes Overtime.”
I went through both and made a transcript of exactly what was included and what was cut from the shorter version that aired on network television. The final 13-minute edit that CBS broadcast on Sunday was a bit of a Frankenstein monster as the president was sometimes cut off mid-sentence while other sections were cut and moved around to give the conversation a better flow.
Throughout the longer un-edited interview the president gave disorganized rambling answers that were filled with false statements about foreign investment in the U.S., immigration, and the 2020 election. He also brought up transgender athletes more than once and trashed the Democratic Party and the members of the press.
The president also boasted that he won a $38 million settlement from CBS over his lawsuit regarding the network’s “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. Paramount, the parent company of CBS, agreed to pay Trump $16 million, not $38 million, the funds going to his future presidential library.
By excessively editing Trump’s answers the network made the president seem far more reasonable and controlled.
How to follow along with this transcript
The ‘60 Minutes’ introduction and transitions are in italics.
Portions that aired on CBS are labeled BROADCAST.
Parts of the interview that were removed are labeled as NOT INCLUDED then presented in a block quote with a blue line on the left of the text.
Instead of moving sections around which would be extremely difficult to follow I kept the 40-minute interview intact while indicating passages that didn’t make the cut for broadcast television.
For my paid subscribers I’ve included a video of the entire interview with the cut portions in black & white along with additional transitions added for the “60 Minutes”broadcast.
The following transcript is free for anyone to read - I placed the paywall at the very bottom of the article. This took me hour to put together so if you can afford to become a paid subscriber your support is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
60 Minutes - Intro (Voice-over by O’Donnell)
Last night in the nation’s capital, a gunman stormed the security perimeter at the white House Correspondents Dinner. The president, the first lady, the vice president, cabinet members and more than 2500 guests were gathered to celebrate the First Amendment and freedom of the press. But after shots were fired, the president was evacuated. It was at the same hotel where President Ronald Reagan was nearly assassinated by John Hinckley 45 years ago.
Tonight, federal investigators are looking into the motive of the alleged gunman, a 31-year-old teacher from Torrance, California. He emailed what a senior official called a manifesto to his family. Minutes before the attack, he wrote he was targeting members of the Trump administration. We spoke with President Trump this afternoon at the White House about what happened.
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O’Donnell: Mr. president, thank you for doing this. Thank you. I’m glad you are safe. I am glad that everyone is safe. How are you doing?
Trump: I’m doing well. It was quite an evening. It was a very difficult thing to watch, frankly, but, doing very well.
BROADCAST
O’Donnell: Mr. president, do you know if you were the target of the gunman?
Trump: I don’t know. It sounded to me. I read a manifesto that says he’s radicalized. He was a Christian, a believer, and then he became an anti-Christian. And he had a lot of change. He’s been going through a lot based on what he wrote. His brother complained about him, and I think we reported him to the police. And his sister likewise complained about him. His family was very concerned. He was probably a pretty sick guy.
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O’Donnell: I want to get to all of those details and also walk through this. What happened last night. But first this appears to be the third attempted assassination on your life, the first in Butler. The second, of course, on the golf course in Florida. Why do you think so many people may be trying to kill you?
Trump: So, I’ve said it and I’ve said it numerous times, and I actually, because of the position I’m in, I’ve done quite a bit of research into the word assassination. Terrible word. And they go after consequential presidents. They go after presidents that, do things. If you look at what I’ve done, we’ve turned this country around. We’ve taken a country that was actually a dead country. It was dying very rapidly, and it’s the hottest country anywhere in the world. We had a skirmish, a war, whatever you want to call it. With Venezuela, we won that very decisively. And we now have a great relationship with Venezuela. And it’s been a very profitable relationship. And we’re in Iran right now. Other presidents should have done it, but they never chose to do it. They should have. They made a terrible mistake by not doing it. It’s tougher now than it would have been ten years ago or even five years ago because, you know, thousands and thousands of missiles and everything else. And we didn’t do the B-2 bomber attack. That alone was a big deal. The killing of Soleimani, which I did in my first term, was a big deal. But when you’re a consequential when you do things, a lot of things and things that work out very well for our country. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, McKinley was assassinated. McKinley made the country very rich. People don’t realize it. Then Teddy Roosevelt went out and spent the money that was made by McKinley. But it was very consequential, actually. But he was assassinated. So,
O’Donnell: You mentioned, Mr. President, consequential. And your policies are also controversial. Is that part of it?
Trump: Well, I don’t think that way. I don’t think in terms of what they are. I just think of what they are for the country. For instance, I inherited the worst border we’ve ever had in the history of a country where 25 million people came in, 25 million people at least, and many of them were from hardcore criminals, and they were drug dealers, and they were from prisons. They emptied our prisons into our country. They have, mental institutions, insane asylums into our country. And I don’t know if that’s controversial to say we have to move those people out, but we have and but it is from the standpoint you’re doing something and you’re doing something that’s good. Things like, men playing in women’s sports, I’m against it. Things like transgender for everyone. I’m against that. There’s so many things that I’m against. I don’t think they’re controversial. I think the other side is controversial, but I do a lot of things and I get things done. And, you know, we’re respected now as a country all over the world. And some people love that, but some people probably don’t.
O’Donnell: Mr. president, I’m sure you’ve now had the opportunity to see some of the pictures of what happened last night, and I want to walk through that. It was just around 8:30 p.m..
BROADCAST
O’Donnell: You are sitting there next to the first lady. The entertainer named Oz Pearlman is talking to you is known as The Mentalist. When did you know something was wrong?
Trump: Right around that point, in fact, you can see the expression on the first lady’s face and your president of the evening, chairman or president or both, who is doing a great job.
O’Donnell: Weijia Jiang, CBS News.
Trump: Yeah, who’s a terrific person. And she was, you know, she had this big smile. I mean, they were, you know, they were talking. They were asking the name of Karoline’s child that he, didn’t know, I guess he.
O’Donnell: Your press secretary’s expecting, and he was trying to guess the baby’s name.
Trump: That’s right.
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Trump: And that was the question. That was what? He. And he was actually able to get it. I’m not sure I’m a believer in this, but he was able to get it. And, the, first lady and your associate were amazed you could see the
O’Donnell: Shock on their faces.
Trump: It wasn’t the shock about something outside, but 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. And I was hoping it was a tray, but it wasn’t.
BROADCAST
O’Donnell: You mentioned the first lady. Her face. She looked very alarmed. Was she scared?
Trump: 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, I think she realized ahead of time that that was more of a bullet than it was a tray. And she was, I looked at her face just a little while ago, before I came. I saw the scene. They played it for me and, you know, pretty good close up and she looked very upset about what just took place. Yeah. Why not?
O’Donnell: You see the security moving quickly within seconds, grabbing the vice president by his coat, lifting him up, bringing him out. Then the counter assault comes in. Took 10 seconds for them to flank you, Mr. President, and then 20 seconds to get you out. It looked chaotic. At one point you were down. What was happening?
Trump: Well, what happened is it was a little bit me. I wanted to see what was happening and I wasn’t making it that easy for him. I wanted to see what was going on. 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. And, I was surrounded by great people, and I probably made them act a little bit more slowly. I said, wait a minute, wait a minute. Let me see. Wait a minute. So, you know, I’m telling.
O’Donnell: Just at that moment where it looks like you go sort of down with your telling him to wait.
Trump: No, you know what happened is then I started walking with him. I turned, I started walking and that’s it. Please go down. Please go down on the floor. So, I went down and First lady went down also. But we were asked to go down by the agents as I was walking. In other words.
O’Donnell: They wanted you almost to crawl out.
Trump: I was standing up. Pretty much. I was standing up and then turn around the opposite direction and started pretty much walking out pretty tall, a little bent over. Because, you know, I’m not looking to be standing too tall. And, but I was walking out pretty about halfway there and they said, please go down to the floor, please go down to the floor. So, I dropped to the floor. So did the first lady.
O’Donnell: What was your thought at that moment? What did the First lady say?
Trump: Well, my thought was, you know, I’ve been through this before a couple of times, and, she has not to this extent. She handled it great. I mean, she was she’s a very strong, smart. She got it. She knew what was happening. She listened. I did too, but.
O’Donnell: Because this was the first time when.
Trump: They said, you know, when they said drop down, that meant a trouble. And obviously, I’m the president and I listen to what they said. Please drop down, sir. Please drop down. So, I was walking halfway and then I dropped down at the final because we had a little ways to go. When you’re exposed to the ballroom surroundings. And, then I got up and we went to a hold room for a while, and I tried to get them to continue the event, if possible.
O’Donnell: You wanted to go back in?
Trump: I did, I really did.
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Trump: because I don’t like to have a criminal or sick person or somebody. Whoever he is, you’ll figure it out. I mean, I think we’re already figuring out he’s a man with a lot of problems, but you don’t want to have somebody like this, you know, essentially attacking our constitution, attacking our country, changing events that are, you know, it’s an important event.
O’Donnell: It was a very a night celebrating the First Amendment and the freedom of the press.
Trump: Exactly. And, and this was a big this is a record setter, and this was a very big and that dinner had some problems for the last nine years and now and I didn’t help them. And this time I went and I felt really good being that there was a great camaraderie, I wasn’t sure what the response was. You know, a lot of press, a lot of media. And when I walked in, I got a very nice applause. I wasn’t sure. I said, you know, I told my wife, I said, you know, I may walk in and they may give me a hard time, or I may walk and let’s see what happens. And I walked in and got very nice. Very I think they were happy to see me there, actually. And I can tell you there there’s the biggest impact that I saw in the entire evening was, and I say this being somebody that’s had a lot of, well, let’s say we’ve argued a little bit to get things that I want done. I fight for a border, and they fight for an open border. And, you know, we have a lot of a lot of differences.
O’Donnell: You’ve got some tough words for the press in the back.
Trump: That was tremendous. By this time the event had taken place. People were starting to feel safe. There was tremendous camaraderie. And saw Democrats, I saw senators, I saw congressmen and women. I saw people that weren’t necessarily on my side from the other party. Mostly. Pretty much the Republicans are on my side. So, I’m not that surprised you know, and they were going way to go. There was spirit in that room. I mean, it was like the whole country was together. It was pretty amazing. It made a big impression. It was very nice to see.
BROADCAST
O’Donnell: Do you think this will change your relationship with the press?
Trump: Well, 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 like the craziest thing. I have the strongest border we’ve ever had in the country, where, as you know, it’s said zero people for nine months came into our country, to our southern border. We have a very tough border.
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Trump: Before me, 25 million people came in. I mean, whether it’s 20 or 25 or 30, but they say 25 million people came in zero people. We have people coming in legally.
O’Donnell: Can I ask you something? You said…
Trump: The other side doesn’t like that. There are things that I like that I think are very standard. I want a women to be able to play women. I don’t want men in women sports. And for whatever reason, the other side likes men and women sports. So, when you say get along.
O’Donnell: But that’s the other side it’s not the press.
Trump: I don’t think I could change, but I don’t think I could ever change my feelings on certain policies. I want strong borders. They want open borders. There’s such a difference.
O’Donnell: Can I ask you Mr..
Trump: I will say this, though, after the event, meaning it looked like things were good. They we knew he was caught. I was given the information immediately. There was a camaraderie that you just have not seen in a while. It’s very nice to see.
O’Donnell: The president. You, Mr. President, the vice president, the speaker of the House, the secretary of State, Secretary Hegseth almost the entire line of presidential succession, you know, was in that ballroom. Who was the designated survivor?
Trump: Well, first of all, I have to say it’s not a safe ballroom. I’m building a safe ballroom. And one of the reasons I’m building it is exactly what happened last night. We’re building a room right there. If you walk out and move 20 yards to the left, you’ll be right at the entrance to the ballroom. And that was being built on the safest piece of property in this country. Probably one of the safest pieces of land in the world. We have.
O’Donnell: But that’s owned. That’s the White House, the White House Correspondents Dinner can’t use White House property.
Trump: It’s able to be used by certainly the White House. It says the White House correspondents. Well, that’s the White House press. I’m sure that it’s available. You know, it’s up to the president. But that would be a made available. And this has bulletproof glass. This has you know, this is the highest level of security. Also, very importantly, I could have built suites on top. I could have done a lot of things. I said, no, no, we have this has to be pure. This has to be where people stay off property and they go through one very impactful, very strong entrance, one very powerful entrance. There’s no games with this. This is the best, highest. This has all sorts of, security equipment at levels that you could never have in a regular ballroom. And we’re ahead of schedule. We’re right on budget, ahead of schedule. I wish it could be even sooner, but we’re, you know, months ahead of schedule, but it doesn’t open till 2028. So, you know, that means you have another season and a half to go.
O’Donnell: Right?
Trump: But, this is exactly why the military, and this is exactly why Secret Service and all law enforcement want it. Because you have maybe a thousand hotel rooms above the ballroom we were in last night, and I’m not knocking it. I’m just saying in terms of maximum security, it’s not the best thing you can do it, but you can have problems like this. They have an elevator that comes down from the rooms. It’s very close to the ballroom. Yeah. Which makes sense.
O’Donnell: Yes.
Trump: So I want. To know we’re doing something that’s going to have a tremendous impact on solving this problem.
BROADCAST
O’Donnell: In that video you can see the gunman running through the metal detectors, and he fired off 1 or 2 rounds.
Trump: The speed was rather incredible, actually. It was it was like a blur.
O’Donnell: How did he get that close with the place swarming with security?
Trump: I will say I say it because I’m a big fan of the people of law enforcement. And, you know, some of these people, they may be crazy, but they’re not stupid and they figure things out. He ran 45 yards, they say, and he just went to it and then boom, he popped through it.
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Trump: A thing like that could happen. I would say this having the equipment on the outside of the building maybe is better than having it on the inside of the building. Sometimes that’s tough, sometimes it’s horrendous weather, sometimes it’s pouring, it’s raining and lots of things happen, but maybe last night was actually quite nice. The weather was beautiful, so maybe something like that has to take place. I can only say that from the moment they realized that he was,
BROADCAST
Trump: I mean, he ran like, I think the NFL should sign him up. He was fast. When you look at it and it’s almost like a blur, right? But it was amazing because as soon as they saw that, you could see them draw their guns. They were so professional, aim their guns, and then they took them down immediately.
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Trump: The doors were sealed, the room was sealed, the ballroom itself, where the people were. And, they really, they really. I think they did a great job.
60 Minutes Transition (Voiceover O’Donnell)
O’Donnell: Two hours later, the president was back at the white House to brief reporters.
Media Clip from press conference at White House
Trump: I saw a room that was totally unified. It was in one way very beautiful.
BROADCAST
O’Donnell: I was in the room not far from you. Mr. president could hear what sounded like gunshots or commotion. People nearby could smell the gunpowder. Everybody hit the floor. There were a number of people who were very, very scared. Yeah. How worried were you that there were going to be injuries?
Trump: I wasn’t worried, I understand life, we live in a crazy world.
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Trump: You can really enhance your chances of having a perfect situation, but sometimes things will happen. I did want to see what was happening, because, as you know, the president, in one way, I guess I should be hiding in another way. I want to see if I can be helpful. But I did watch because I could see what was going on at the door. I also saw a lot of very strong, physically strong, really attractive law enforcement people come through those doors. And frankly, it made me feel very safe. Very, very safe. Was nobody going to get by them? And this was at the very back of the ballroom looking at the back of the room.
O’Donnell: The counter assault team that comes in.
Trump: In, they were very impressive. I think they were very impressive. I think the whole operation was very impressive. The only thing you could say is maybe they could move that counter point out deeper. In other words, move it to the outside of the building.
O’Donnell: Let’s talk about that. Mr. president, I wonder how much has the Secret Service and the FBI briefed you about this suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, have you read what a senior U.S. official is describing to us as a manifesto?
Trump: Yeah.
O’Donnell: Did you know that he emailed it to family members?
Trump: We found all of that out this morning.
O’Donnell: Right before the attack?
Trump: Yeah, we found that out this morning. And the family members were concerned. I think the brother called up the police. I think the sister may have called the police. The parents were rather devastated. He lived with the parents. I saw the parents last night on television opening the door. I assume that was his parents. Look, you have sick people, and you have to mitigate the risk. But some of these sick people, it’s amazing. Some of the. They’re very sick, but they’re also, in some cases, very, very smart. He went to grade school, I can tell you, the person in Butler, I don’t know if you ever looked at his academic credentials. He had almost 1600 on his College Board’s 1600. Nobody has. I mean, it’s the upper 99.9 percentile or something. And he was a crazy person, but a smart, crazy person, I think the law enforcement did a great job last night.
O’Donnell: Let me ask you this.
Trump: I guess if they didn’t, I wouldn’t be here. But I think they really did a great job. Now, can you make adjustments? And we’re also learning. Can you make adjustments? I think the only adjustment would be you move your security equipment further away. But it was it was about 50 yards away, 50 yards, a lot of yards. Now when a guy is running at that speed, he was a very fast person. And he got him by a little bit by surprise. But that didn’t matter because he was totally subdued very shortly after he passed that one point.
BROADCAST
O’Donnell: The so-called manifesto is a stunning thing to read, Mr. President. He appears to reference a motive in it. He writes this quote, administration officials, they are targets. And he also wrote this. I’m no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes. What’s your reaction to that?
Trump: Well, I was waiting for you to read that? Because I knew you would. Because you’re you’re you’re horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that, I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.
O’Donnell: Oh, do you think He was referring to you?
Trump: Excuse me. I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person. I got associated with, well, stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate, 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, as a sick person, but you should be ashamed of yourself reading that, because I’m not any of those things,
O’Donnell: Mr. President, these were the gunman’s words.
Trump: I was never again excuse me. You shouldn’t be reading that on ‘60 Minutes.’ You’re a disgrace. But go ahead, let’s finish the interview.
O’Donnell: The other thing that he wrote.
Trump: You’re disgraceful.
O’Donnell: 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. He checked and he said he had cased the place and he wrote, what the hell is the Secret Service doing? And he wrote this quote, I expected security cameras at every been bugged, hotel rooms, armed agents every ten feet, metal detectors out the wazoo.What I got is nothing, he wrote. Like this level of incompetence is insane. Sir, you have already had two attempted.
Trump: Well, he was pretty incompetent too because he got caught and he got caught pretty easily, so I’d say he was pretty incompetent, too. You know, I can take any event having to do with security or anything else. I can always find fault
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Trump: No matter what. I can take a baseball team that won the game 18 to nothing and say they should have played better.
BROADCAST
Trump: Those guys did a good job last night. They did a really good job.
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Trump: Now do they make adjustments? They do. They learn. They make adjustments. We’re living in a different world with the internet than we had, years ago. But even years ago, it was very dangerous. I mean, just ask honest Abe Lincoln pretty dangerous. And, but we are living a very, you know, the internet, I think maybe more than anything else, it’s radicalized some people, it’s made people mentally sick. It’s also a great thing. It’s a phenomenal thing with a leader in it. We had with a leader in AI it’s a great thing, but you’ll always find problems. But it’s a different, it’s a different age. It’s a very different. It’s a very different time.
BROADCAST
O’Donnell: I mention that because again, as his motive, you brought this up, he had social media accounts that had anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric.
Trump: You should read. Why don’t you read all the anti-Trump? Why don’t you read it. You just did so why don’t you read it?
O’Donnell: Well, he had a lot of anti-Christian rhetoric. He had he was part of a group called the Wide Awakes. He had attended a No Kings protest in California in
Trump: No Kings.
O’Donnell: What did security tell you about what may have been his motive?
Trump: Well the you see the reason you have people like that is you have people doing ‘No Kings’. I’m not a king. What am I, if I was a king, I wouldn’t be dealing with you.
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Trump: You know I’m not a king, I get it, I don’t laugh, I don’t, I, I see these No Kings which are funded just like the southern law was funded. You all that southern laws, financing the KKK and lots of other radical, terrible groups. And then they go out and they say, oh, we’ve got to stop the KKK. And yet they give them hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars. They work. It’s a total scam run by the Democrats. It shows you that, like Charlottesville, Charlottesville was all funded by the southern law. That was a southern law deal, too. And it was done to make me look bad. And it turned out to be a total fake. It basically was, a rigged election. This was a part of the rigging of the election. And that’s what you really should be doing. I mean, I hope one of your ‘60 Minute’ episodes, which really hasn’t changed very much for the last few years, I’m surprised. But one of those episodes should be on southern law, and the fact that they spent millions and millions of dollars on absolute far right and just bad, bad groups, and then they’d use those groups and they’d say, these are Republican groups, and we’re coming to your rescue, and they’re the ones that have funded it, and they’re the ones that kept them, keep them going. Pretty sad. Do you think it’s pretty sad Norah?
O’Donnell: The allegations and the indictment.
Trump: There’re not just allegations.
O’Donnell: But it’s an indictment.
Trump: These facts okay. These are facts. I mean, they have checks to the two Klux Klan and many others, and then they’re saying how bad they are and blaming the Republican Party and Republicans. These are not just allegations, but go ahead.
O’Donnell: Well as you know sir, you’ve been accused of things and were able to go to a court of law and adjudicate them.
Trump: So yeah, it’s after five years. It’s it’s it takes you about five years.
O’Donnell: I do want to talk about that also.
Trump: I’ve also won a lot of money from fake news media where they write falsely about me. And not that I want to sue people because I don’t. But I bring lawsuits against the fake news and brought lawsuits against your network, and you paid me $38 million because you did something that was so horrible with Kamala. You put an answer down that wasn’t responsive to the question because her answer, her real answer was so bad, it was election threatening. And you paid me a lot of money, and you tried to pull one off. It was terrible. It was a terrible thing that you did. And you know, when you say, can we all get along? You can. But when people do things like that, or how about the BBC where the BBC has me? Actually, AI, they had me saying a horrible statement and I said, I never said that. It turned out they gave me AI and little AI treatment where they have my lips speaking words of hate. Tremendous hate that I never said they don’t know what to do. They’ve admitted they’re wrong. They just don’t know what to do. They actually have me making a major statement. And it wasn’t me. It was my face. It was my lips. My lips were perfectly in sync with the words I said. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. So
O’Donnell: I hear you Mr. President.
Trump: So then when you say, can you get along? I can get along with anybody. But if people are going to cheat, if people are going to be fake, you sort of don’t want to get along.
O’Donnell: On that. What do you say to people who are encouraging political violence or even cheering it on?
Trump: Well, I think the ones that are doing that are much more far left than far right, much more. When you see again, southern law, when you see some of the statements that are made there. So even when you say No Kings, that’s, that’s encouraging. You’re saying one of the things this guy said in his manifesto, what you didn’t read, you should have, is that he attended a No Kings rally along with not too many people, and probably it had an impact. You know, they get up and they say whatever they want. No, I’m against it. I think it’s terrible.
BROADCAST
O’Donnell: Also at the dinner last night was your secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. His sister Kerry Kennedy was there. They’ve both witnessed their father and their uncle be assassinated.
Trump: Right.
O’Donnell: Erica Kirk was there. The House majority leader, Steve Scalise was there. Yeah. Political violence has touched so many people in that room. Is there something that you as president can do? What can be done to change the trajectory?
Trump: Well, you know. You go back 20 years, 40 years, 100 years, 200 years, 500 years. It’s always been there. People are assassinated, people are injured, people are hurt. And I’m not sure that any more now than there was. I do think that the hate speech of the Democrats, much more so is is very dangerous. I really think it’s very dangerous for the country.
60 Minutes Transition (Voiceover O’Donnell)
O’Donnell: President Trump told us he hopes to move events like last night’s press gala to the new East Wing ballroom that he says is ahead of schedule although it won’t be ready until 2028. But he wants last night dinner to be rescheduled much sooner than that.
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Trump: I think the fact that I’ve accomplished so much, I’ve made our country great again. I made this country was dead. Our country was dead a year and a half ago. Sleepy Joe Biden had no idea what he was doing. I don’t think it was him either. I think it was the people that surround the surround him in the Oval Office at the beautiful Resolute Desk. I don’t think he knew what he was doing. He didn’t sign anything. He used the autopen to sign 90% of the things. I think that they engendered. I mean, they really created a tremendous amount of anger and hate. Our country was dead, and now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. Nope. Not even close.
O’Donnell: Last night,
Trump: As an example, investments in our country for four years, less than $1 trillion under Biden in 11 months. $18 trillion under Trump. Now, most people are happy about that. But some people are really angry about it. You know why? Because it means we should be around for a long time, and they don’t want that to happen.
O’Donnell: Last night you had a very much a tone of of unity when you were in the White House press briefing room.
Trump: I think so, yeah. I think, I really felt very calm. I feel very calm, and I feel very calm right now, other than a couple of your questions, which are meant to antagonize and totally inappropriate, but I feel very calm. I thought last night was a very important thing to do. And, people have said it was I did it wll not an easy thing to do. You know, you leave a scene like that, and then you’re supposed to let our country and even the world know that it’s going to be okay.
O’Donnell: And what about when we talking about the division in this country, the political violence? Now, many of your cabinet secretaries live on military bases. Yeah. In order to because of the potential threats against them.
Trump: Well, they choose to I’m not sure that, they need to they also have nice places. You know, Democrats did the same thing. Some of the housing on the military bases is very nice. I’m not sure they do it necessarily for violence, but probably this it’s not the worst thing in the world. Look, they’re they’re doing we are consequential. This is a consequential presidency. I have a great Cabinet, and they do things that are very good. But some people, you know, if they’re good for us and not good for other people, like, as an example, Iran, when they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon, they will not have they’re not going to blow up the world. They’re crazy. They’re not going to blow up the world, and therefore they’re not happy. And when they’re not happy, people do things that are violent. Now, I’m not tracing anything back to them, but certainly if they had a shot, they’d probably take it. So, when you’re a consequential president or if you have a consequential administration, things happen. That wouldn’t happen if you’re sleepy Joe Biden. Everyone was happy with Biden. The world was happy with Biden. They were happy because they were taking advantage of us, because they treated the United States like we were stupid people, and they made a lot of money. But they don’t do that anymore.
O’Donnell: Last night was going to be your first attendance at the white House Correspondents Dinner as president.
Trump: That’s right. And I was looking forward to making a speech. And would have been a lot different had I gone up and had I stayed. It was very interesting because I said, I can’t make this wish I was going to do it pretty.
O’Donnell: Tell me.
Trump: Rip roaring. I won’t go into the total details, but no, I was going to hit people really hard with humor. No, it’s really hard with humor. And I thought it was good when this happened and I wanted it to go forward because I just didn’t want it canceled by a crazy person. Our country’s too good for that. Our country’s too important for that and too powerful for that. I didn’t want that to happen, but I said, and I thought it would go up. I was expecting until the last moment when the military came and Secret Service and law enforcement.
O’Donnell: Why did they say you couldn’t go back? When you were saying, I want to go back.
Trump: Because we had a very sealed room. It’s very airtight. Once the doors opened and the Secret Service, military, others came in, the police came into law enforcement. They came in a lot of them. We had a lot of law enforcement, and it was a wall, but the doors were open. It was breached by them. If somebody happened to slip in and when they said that, I said, you’re right. But I did want to go. But it would have been a much different speech. I would have had to just get up and say, I love you all. And there was love in the room. It was amazing. There was love in the room.
O’Donnell: And why do you think that is? Why do you think that the tone changed?
Trump: People came together, Democrats did. The Democrats that truly can’t stand me were saying, sir, could I just shake your hand? I mean, I’m, I’m leaving and I’m seeing people, you know, high level people. And they’re saying, sir, great job, sir. Could one of them I don’t he probably have it on tape someplace. One of them, could I hug you? A big politician on the other side, there was love. It just all came together. It was very amazing to see. It was a very beautiful thing and a non-beautiful moment really. But it was a very beautiful thing that was happening.
O’Donnell: I hesitate to ask you about this, but as you know, these conspiracy theories out there on the left and the right, that the event was staged or that it didn’t happen.
Trump: What last night, didn’t.
O’Donnell: That, yeah, that it was because it was your first time there or that Butler didn’t happen. These conspiracy theories that are gaining traction on the internet.
Trump: And October 7th didn’t happen, and World War Two didn’t happen, and the Holocaust didn’t happen and many things didn’t happen. Yeah. No, I hear it. I don’t know, I think they’re more sick than they are con people. But it is a lot of con in it too. I haven’t heard that last night didn’t happen. What usually takes a little bit longer.
O’Donnell: Yeah.
Trump: Usually, they wait about two or three months to start saying that.
O’Donnell: I think that it was. I think that and forgive me, I’m not I don’t peddle in that stuff or certainly look at it because I was there. But the idea I’m wondering where this is coming from?
Trump: I think this is going to be a tough, I think, going to be a tough sell.
O’Donnell: Yeah. Secret Service now is currently meeting as they always do, to discuss your security footprint. The king is coming here. King of England.
Trump: I think it’s great. He’ll be very safe.
O’Donnell: Yeah, yeah. And you know, you’re going to be able to go go forward. You’re no no concerns of security going forward.
Trump: The White House grounds are really safe. This area of not very many acres. It’s really safe. And he’ll be staying here now. I believe he’s going to a couple of other locations because he’s here for a few days and he’s a great guy. Oh, they called and they are so looking forward to being here. We spoke this morning.
O’Donnell: So, he the the king is fine. He’s still coming the week your your events are still going forward.
Trump: He’s a good he’s a good person.
O’Donnell: There’s no indication from the Secret Service or the FBI that there’s an additional threat to you or other administration officials?
Trump: This was a lone wolf, in my opinion. We may find out something else. This is a sick lone wolf. He’s a sicko. And, very disturbed person. You can see it with his, journey through life in the news. And Christian, he was a, a member of the Christian club at his college, Caltech, which is a good college. I’m sure they’re very embarrassed by this because, you know, it’s a great college. So, I mean, he’s pretty smart to be in and get it. Got to get pretty good marks. Going to get pretty good board scores to hard school to get into. So, he’s a smart guy, but he’s a sick guy. Yeah. That’s the problem. I mean it would be a lot easier if they weren’t smart. Some of them are very smart. And they go around and all they want to do is kill people. They’re sick, and they have to be put away.
O’Donnell: I understand today’s the first lady’s birthday. Is that right?
Trump: Today’s her birthday that’s right. Happy birthday. Happy birthday Melania. It’s. It is.
O’Donnell: How do you deal with that witnessed after what happened last night?
Trump: Yeah. By the time we get back here, it’s like around 12:00. And I said, happy birthday, darling.
O’Donnell: And you were back here in the White House. I understand in five minutes.
Trump: Well, they they move fast.
O’Donnell: Yeah.
Trump: Yeah. I mean, look, it’s a pretty quick drive. It’s not very far away. But think of it. The security of having this really perfect facility built at the highest, highest security levels on the grounds where you’re not taking. I’m talking about any president, by the way. Other presidents would use the ballroom a lot more than me. I’m going to have 4 or 5 months left, but other presidents will be having having the the you know, that tremendous asset is going to be so great. But outside of that is dangerous. You know, you need tremendous then you could never build. You can’t have thousands of rooms on top of a ballroom and have security, real security. Now with that being said, I hope they do this event again and I hope they do it again soon.
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O’Donnell: And you are committed to doing this event with the White House correspondents Dinner. It’s about freedom of the press.
Trump: I want them because I don’t want to see it be canceled. I don’t want to have a crazy person. I think it’s really bad for a crazy person to be able to cancel something like this.
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Trump: You know, I remember with a certain event that took place, I don’t even like mentioning it where they had sports games going on and it was a big decision. Do we cancel the games or do we not? And when you cancel, you’re sort of playing right into the hands of these nutjobs and they are the really sick people I don’t want to have, an event like that. It was a great event. That was an event. So, I refused to do it the first four years because I felt the press treated me very unfairly. I had a right not to do it. I didn’t do it. And the thing died. It was dying. And I even though the press treated me pretty badly, it’s hard to treat me. Look, I won the election, you know, people are fighting me. Everybody. Not everybody. That’s. I have
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Trump: a there are great people in the press, too. I can name, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to embarrass you your show we have some great people in the press, some very fair people and people that are just on my side. But for the most part, it’s a very liberal, a very progressive. Let’s use the word Lou, a liberal press. But I was just really, I was really happy to see the, the I don’t know how long it last, the relationship, the friendship, the spirit after a very bad event took place. Now the event turned out to be much less bad because nobody was killed, nobody was hurt. The Secret Service agent, I spoke to him. He had a bulletproof vest on. Unbelievable.
O’Donnell: He’s okay.
Trump: He’s 100%. Yeah. No, he was 100%. He didn’t want to go to the hospital. He really didn’t. They asked him to go, and he didn’t want to go. He said, I don’t need to go to the hospital. But he went because they asked him to go.
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Trump: I would have said to tell him that if he doesn’t want to go, what do you force him to go for? Because then the press will say, oh, he was badly hurt. No, he didn’t want to go to the hospital, and they forced him to go. And I’m not saying they’re wrong, but I would have said, if he doesn’t want to go, don’t make him go.
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O’Donnell: Well, I know the White House Correspondents Association very much appreciate you going last night and honoring a commitment to do it.
Trump: I hope we’re. Going to do it again, Norah. Tell them to get it going, and 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. But tell him to do it again. We can’t let something. It’s not that I want to go. It’s. I am very busy. I don’t need that. I think it’s very important that they do it again.
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Well, thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very Much.
