President Trump went nuclear on CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell after she read from the manifesto of the man who attempted to shoot up the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, in which he described the president as a “pedophile, rapist, and traitor.”
The president blasted O’Donnell for reading the description of a “sick person” during their 60 Minutes interview, as she attempted to deflect.
NEW: Norah O'Donnell plays dumb as Trump tears into her after she brought up how the shooting suspect called him a “r*pist” in his manifesto.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 26, 2026
O'Donnell: “He also wrote this: ‘I'm no longer willing to permit a ped*phile, rap*st, and traitor…’”
Trump: “I was waiting for you to… pic.twitter.com/t9tnqqrCGF
"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,'" O'Donnell said. "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?"
"Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you're horrible people, horrible people," the president replied. "Yeah, he did write that. I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody."
"Oh, you think he was referring to you?" O'Donnell asked.
"Excuse me. I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person. I got associated with stuff that has nothing to do with me," President Trump said. "I was totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, let's say, Epstein or other things. But I said to myself, you know, I'll do this interview, and they'll probably read the manifesto."
"You know, he's a sick person," Trump added. "But you should be ashamed of yourself, reading that because I'm not any of those things."
"Mr. President, these are the government's words," O'Donnell said.
"Excuse me. You shouldn't be reading that in 60 minutes," President Trump said. "You're a disgrace. But go ahead. Let's finish the interview."
This comes just days after Cole Allen, a part-time teacher from California, attempted to assassinate top Trump administration officials at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
What we know about the accused WHCA dinner shooter — Cole Allen
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 27, 2026
- 31-year-old computer scientist from Torrance, California
- Built shooter video games
- Elite academic track: enrolled at Caltech in 2013, graduated in 2017 with a mechanical engineering degree
- Named “Teacher of…
NEW: The manifesto for alleged White House Correspondents’ Dinner gunman Cole Allen has been released.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 26, 2026
In the manifesto, Allen mocked Secret Service for being "incompetent" and for the poor security at the hotel.
Here is the manifesto, in part, per the New York Post:
"Hello… pic.twitter.com/FoKJwX9B7Z
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