Updated on: April 26, 2026 / 5:06 PM EDT / CBS News
In an interview airing on 60 Minutes, President Trump described being rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after a gunman charged a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton Hotel. He told CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell that he “wasn’t making it that easy” for the Secret Service because he “wanted to see what was going on.”
“I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for them,” he said, adding that he was “surrounded by great people” but asked them to “wait a minute” so he could assess the situation.
Saturday marked Trump’s first time attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as president; he has historically declined the invitation. O’Donnell was also at the annual gala, which celebrates the First Amendment.
Secret Service agents quickly escorted Trump and other administration officials from the ballroom after shots rang out. Authorities say 31-year-old Cole Allen charged a security checkpoint armed with a shotgun, a handgun and knives before being apprehended by police. A Secret Service agent was shot but was wearing a bulletproof vest and has been released from the hospital.
Sources told CBS News that Allen had written a “manifesto” and sent it to family members, one of whom contacted police. In excerpts reviewed by CBS News, Allen wrote that he planned to target administration officials, “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” and authorities “only if necessary.” He said law enforcement, hotel employees and guests weren’t his intended targets but that he would still attack them to get to the administration, adding: “I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
At a news conference Saturday night, Trump praised law enforcement and said the suspect “hadn’t come anywhere close to breach the doors of the room.” When asked if he worried about threats to his life, Trump replied, “It’s a dangerous profession.”
Trump said he “fought like hell” to resume the event after the shooting, but that law enforcement would not allow it. He said he wanted the dinner rescheduled within the next 30 days.
Watch the interview Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and Paramount+.