Trump on ‘60 Minutes’ Rails Against Some Journalists, Then Calls for Holding New White House Correspondents Dinner Within 30 Days

President Donald Trump was combative and conciliatory in equal turns during a “60 Minutes” interview conducted Sunday by correspondent Norah O’Donnell at the White House in the wake of the shooting on Saturday night near the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The president seemed eager to discuss the incident, which took place Saturday night and stunned the nation and mainstream news outlets that had dispatched dozens of their top journalists to take part in the evening. Cole Tomas Allen, 31, who hails from Torrance, Calif., allegedly tried to storm the annual event at the Washington Hilton in the nation’s capital while wielding guns. He was shot and detained by law enforcement, but the noise and chaos around his capture was on full display as federal agents and police removed President Trump, Vice President Vance and many dignitaries attending the event.

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“We live in a crazy world,” Trump said, noting to O’Donnell that political violence has existed for decades.

Trump told O’Donnell he “wasn’t making it easy” for the Secret Service trying to remove him from the scene: “I wanted to see what was happening,” he told O’Donnell. “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.'”

Trump grew visibly displeased with O’Donnell after she read a portion of a “manifesto” allegedly written by Cole. In the document, he says he is “no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” a reference to various accusations levelled against Trump over the years, all of which he has denied. “You are horrible people, horrible people,” Trump said to O’Donnell, casting aspersion on journalists who seek to hold powerful officials to account. “Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.” He told O’Donnell: “You shouldn’t be reading that on ’60 Minutes.’ You’re a disgrace. But let’s finish the interview.”

Despite taking issue with O’Donnell’s journalism, and suggesting most journalism outlets express liberal or progressive worldviews, he called for the WHCA dinner to take place, within 30 days.

Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and numerous cabinet officials were evacuated from the event on Saturday as the shooter was tackled by law enforcement on a different floor from the event. Officials said the suspect charged a security checkpoint.

Shortly after, the President held a press conference and promised the dinner would be rescheduled. “I fought like hell” not to cancel the event, he said. He added, “We’re going to do it again. We’re not going to let anybody take over our society. We’re not going to cancel things out, because we can’t do that.” He also took advantage of the moment to push his desire to construct a new ballroom at the White House, something the administration continued to press on Sunday.

Later, in a social media post, WHCA president and CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang wrote, “I know many of you are still processing what happened last night. Thank you to the USSS and all the law enforcement agencies who kept us safe. We are so grateful. To the members of the WHCA, we will get through this together…. We express our deepest gratitude to the U.S. Secret Service and all law enforcement personnel who ensured the safety of everyone in the ballroom and beyond. Their actions protected thousands of guests, and we wish a full and speedy recovery to the officer who was injured in the line of duty. We are grateful everyone in attendance was unharmed, including the President, the First Lady, and the Vice President.”

The Trump interview led Sunday’s “60 Minutes,” pushing the report “Disaster Tourists” to a future episode. Still airing is a segment with former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who is now battling a terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis. CBS’ Scott Pelley sat down with Sasse in an interview and town hall that was scheduled to be a part of “60 Minutes” and also a special edition of “Things That Matter.” The extended version of that interview will be available on “60 Minutes Overtime,” the “60 Minutes” podcast and “Things That Matter,” which will appear on Paramount+ and CBS News digital platforms. Maria Gavrilovic is the producer of that package.