US president Donald Trump said on Sunday that the suspect accused of trying to attack administration officials at a black-tie gala on Saturday night was a “pretty sick guy” who had been flagged to law enforcement by family members.
Trump said in TV interviews that the suspect, whom an official identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, had posted what Trump described as an “anti-Christian” manifesto.
The gunman opened fire at the Washington Hilton hotel Saturday night, though he did not breach the basement-level ballroom where Trump was sitting at the time.
The president described the events in an even tone, saying that he did not feel particularly alarmed as they unfolded.
“I wasn’t worried,” Trump said in an interview with CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell, when asked how his reaction to hearing the gun shots. “I understand life. We live in a crazy world.”
The interview turned frosty when O’Donnell put portions of the gunman’s manifesto to Trump, which appeared to refer to the president as a “rapist” and “paedophile”, prompting him to call O’Donnell a “disgrace” and the media “horrible people”.
Recounting his events of the shooting, Trump told 60 Minutes that his curiosity probably slowed the US Secret Service’s efforts to rush him to safety.
“I wanted to see what was happening,” Trump said. “I wasn’t making it that easy for them. I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time we started to realise maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of problem, a bad one – and different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom.
“I was surrounded by great people,” Trump added. “And I probably made them act a little more slowly. I said, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute’.”
US Secret Service officers, however, repeatedly told the president and first lady, Melania Trump, to hit the floor, Trump said.
“I started walking,” Trump said. “And they said, ‘Please go down, please go down on the floor.’ So I went down and the first lady went down also.”
US Secret Service officers eventually led Trump and other administration members to safety after the shots were fired.
Law enforcement officers exchanged fire with the suspected gunman at the hotel before tackling and arresting him. Allen was armed with knives, a shotgun and a handgun at the time of his arrest.
The shooting appears politically motivated and may have targeted other top US officials in addition to Trump, according to the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche.
“We do believe, based upon just a very preliminary start to understanding what happened, that he was targeting members of the administration,” Blanche said in an interview with CBS News on Sunday.
The suspect allegedly sent writings to family members fulminating against the Trump administration that some have described as a “manifesto”. The 1,100-word screed is signed “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen”.
The 60 Minutes interview got confrontational when O’Donnell read some of the manifesto on air that appeared to refer to Trump as a “rapist” and a “paedophile” and asked Trump to react.
“I was waiting for you to read that, because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people,” Trump said. “Yeah, he did write that, I’m not a rapist ... I read the manifesto. You know, he’s a sick person. You shouldn’t be reading that on 60 Minutes, you’re a disgrace, but go ahead, let’s finish the interview.
Trump continued to take jabs at O’Donnell for the rest of the interview. After she noted that Allen, the suspected shooter, had reportedly attended a “No Kings” protest, Trump shot back: “The reason you have people like that, is you have people doing ‘No Kings’. I’m not a king. What I am – If I was a king, I wouldn’t be dealing with you.”
Notwithstanding Trump’s criticisms of the press, which he described as a “soft on crime”, he urged the White House Correspondents’ Association to reschedule the event within the next 30 days.
“I don’t want to see it be cancelled. I think it’s really bad for a crazy person to be able to cancel something like this,” Trump said, adding: “It’s not that I want to go. I’m very busy. I don’t need that.” – The Guardian/Reuters
