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Law enforcement personnel detain Cole Tomas Allen, a suspect in the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, in Washington, on Saturday. Credit: DONALD J TRUMP via Truth Social/ REUTERS
Law enforcement personnel detain Cole Tomas Allen, a suspect in the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, in Washington, on Saturday. Credit: DONALD J TRUMP via Truth Social/ REUTERS
U.S. President Donald Trump told the press that trade wars and military investments have made him a target for assassination attempts: “When you’re impactful, they go after you,” he told journalists in Washington, D.C., following the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday.
Trump also linked the assassination attempt to what he described as successful missions to decapitate the leadership of Venezuela and Iran, according to Reuters.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, Trump said that the United States has the “strongest border we’ve ever had,” claiming that “zero people for nine months came into our country through our southern border. We have a very tough border.”
He said that assassination attempts on leadership have “always been there. People are assassinated. People are injured. People are hurt.” But he clarified that he thinks the “hate speech of the Democrats” is “very dangerous for the country.”
On Saturday night, he compared himself to Abraham Lincoln and told reporters that, had he not imposed significant new taxes on imports and had not invested as heavily in the military, he’d be less of a target.
“We’ve changed this country, and there are a lot of people that are not happy about that,” Trump said.
When asked on the CBS show about the messaging in the manifesto, in which the gunman wrote, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” Trump called the interviewer a “disgrace” and said “you should be ashamed of yourself reading that,” adding, “You shouldn’t be reading that on 60 Minutes.”