President Donald Trump gave a heated interview to CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell just 24 hours after the White House Correspondents Dinner shooting at the Hilton. The interview, recorded at the White House, quickly turned tense when O’Donnell read from the alleged gunman’s manifesto, which contained disturbing claims about Trump.
According to Politico, Trump immediately pushed back after O’Donnell read the manifesto. “I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people. Horrible people,” Trump said. “Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.” When O’Donnell tried to ask whether Trump believed the gunman was referring to him, the president moved past the question without answering.
The manifesto referenced a “pedophile, rapist, and traitor.” Trump appeared to take this as an indirect link to Jeffrey Epstein, even though Epstein’s name was never mentioned in the manifesto or by O’Donnell. “You read that crap from some sick person,” Trump said. “I got associated with stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated.”
Trump’s 60 Minutes blowup signals his press relations are worse than ever
The interview grew more intense when Trump turned directly on O’Donnell, calling her a “disgrace” for reading the manifesto on air. “You should be ashamed of yourself for reading that, because I’m not any of those things,” Trump said. “You shouldn’t be reading that on 60 Minutes.'” Many online were already raising questions about what really happened at the Correspondents Dinner before the interview even aired.
Trump had initially appeared to show a sense of unity with the press corps following the shooting at the dinner the night before. That brief moment of common ground did not last long, as the Sunday interview made clear.
During the interview, Trump also took aim at the press more broadly, suggesting that journalists were largely left-leaning and opposed to his positions on immigration and crime. His sharp response to O’Donnell’s question about whether the experience would change how he deals with the press made his answer plain enough without him having to say it directly.
O’Donnell had attempted to ask whether the shared experience of the shooting might bring Trump and the press corps closer together. Instead, the interview ended with Trump accusing the journalist of being irresponsible and calling her actions a disgrace on national television. This is not the first time Trump has made bold public comparisons to boost his own image, as seen when he compared himself to Martin Luther King Jr. over crowd sizes.
The exchange made clear that whatever brief moment of goodwill existed between Trump and the media after the Hilton shooting had fully collapsed within a day. The interview is likely to add more fuel to an already deeply strained relationship between the president and the press.
Published: Apr 27, 2026 02:31 pm