Trump Erupts After Being Confronted With Alleged Shooter’s Manifesto
President Donald Trump was infuriated after hearing the alleged White House Correspondents’ Dinner gunman’s manifesto, and lashed out at a reporter who asked him about it.
On Sunday, CBS’s Norah O’Donnell interviewed Trump on 60 Minutes, and told him, “The so-called manifesto is a stunning thing to read.
“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” O’Donnell quoted directly. Then, she asked Trump, “What’s your reaction to that?”
“I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you’re horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody. I’m not a pedophile—” Trump began to rant, before O’Donnell tried to cut in.
O'DONNELL: In his manifesto, he wrote that 'I'm no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.' What's your reaction?
TRUMP: I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you're horrible people. I'm not a… pic.twitter.com/zaZhcRwbWJ— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 26, 2026
“Do you think he was referring to you?” she asked.
“Excuse me, excuse me. I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person. Uh, I got associated with 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, let’s say, Epstein or other things,” Trump said.
“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. You should be ashamed of yourself, reading that, because I’m not any of those things, and I was never—excuse me, excuse me,” Trump continued, cutting off O’Donnell when she tried to interject with a question. “You shouldn’t be reading that on 60 Minutes. You’re a disgrace. Go ahead, let’s finish the interview.”
The words “pedophile” and “rapist” clearly triggered Trump during the interview, because he immediately went into full-on denial mode and attacked O’Donnell simply for repeating the shooter’s manifesto. An assassination attempt is a gravely serious event, but those words made Trump quickly grow furious because they referenced his connections to Jeffrey Epstein and a New York judge’s ruling nearly three years ago that said he could legally be called a rapist. At that moment, Trump was more upset about those accusations than the attempt on his life.
