From ‘sick’ White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter to ‘research’ on assassination: Trump’s top quotes from ‘60 Minutes’ interview

Following the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooting incident, US President Donald Trump spoke at length about the shocking incident, saying that he was unsure whether he was the intended target of the gunman but described the suspect as a radicalized and deeply troubled individual whose family had already raised concerns with police.

While speaking to NORAH O'DONNELL during CBS’ "60 Minutes," Trump recounted the moment; he said he quickly realized something was wrong during the event as alarm spread in the room yet expressed a willingness to resume proceedings, arguing that violent acts should not disrupt key national events or intimidate institutions.

He also sharply criticized the venue’s security and using the incident to justify plans for a more secure White House ballroom, even as he acknowledged the attacker’s speed and praised law enforcement for a swift and effective response that prevented further harm.

Top Quotes from Trump’s ‘60 Minutes’ Interview

NORAH O'DONNELL: Mr. President, do you know if you were the target of the gunman?

President Donald Trump: “I don't know. It sounded to me. I read a manifesto, which is-- he's radicalized. He was a Christian-- believer, and then he became an anti-Christian, and he had a lotta change. He's been goin' through a lot, based on what he wrote. His brother complained about him and I think reported him to the police. And his sister, likewise, complained about him. His family-- was very concerned. He was-- probably a pretty sick guy.

NORAH O'DONNELL: And I wanna 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?

President Donald 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 wanna call it, with Venezuela."

"We won that very decisively, and we now have a great relationship with Venezuela. It's been a very profitable relationship. And we're in Iran right now. Other presidents should've 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've been ten years ago or even five years ago because-- you know, they had 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 lotta 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 that. Then Teddy Roosevelt went out and spent the money that was made by McKinley, but he was very consequential, actually, but he was assassinated."

NORAH O'DONNELL: It was just around 8:30 p.m. You are sitting there next to the first lady. The entertainer named Oz Pearlman is talking to you. He's known as The Mentalist. When did you know something was wrong?

President Donald 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 was doing a great job, by the way.

NORAH O'DONNELL: You wanted to go back in.

President Donald Trump: I did. I really did. Because I don't like to have a criminal or a sick person or somebody, whoever he is, they'll figure it out, I mean, we'll-- I think we're already figuring out. He's a man with a lot of problems. But you don't wanna have somebody like this, you know, essentially attacking our Constitution, attacking our country-- changing events that are-- you know, it's an important event. It was a very important.

NORAH O'DONNELL: The president-- Mr. President, the vice president, the speaker of the House, the secretary of state, Secretary Hegseth, almost the entire line of presidential succession was in that ballroom. Who was the designated survivor?

President Donald 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 ballroom is being built on the safest piece of property in this country, probably one of the safest pieces of land in the world.

NORAH O'DONNELL: In that video you can see the gunman running through the metal detectors. And he fired off one or two rounds.

President Donald Trump: Yeah. His speed was rather incredible, actually. It was-- he was like a blur.

NORAH 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 gun powder. Everybody hit the floor. There were a number of people who were very, very scared. How worried were you that there were gonna be injuries?

President Donald Trump: I wasn't worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world. You can really enhance your chances of having a perfect situation, but sometimes things will happen. I did wanna see what was happening 'cause I-- you know, I'm the president. In one way I guess I should be hiding.

NORAH 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 am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes." What's your reaction to that?

President Donald Trump: Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you're-- you're he-- you're horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I'm-- I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody.

NORAH O'DONNELL: Oh you think-- do you think he was referring to you?

President Donald Trump: I'm not a pedophile. Excuse me. Excuse me. I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? I got associated with all-- stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, little'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, he's a sick person. But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I'm not any of those things.