President Donald Trump said on Saturday night that he initially thought the sound of a gunman charging a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was a tray falling, in his first remarks about what was going through his mind as the incident unfolded.
Trump's Reaction to the Shooting
“Actually, it was totally shocking to me, and that never changes,” Trump said, appearing to refer to the assassination attempt against him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a second incident on his golf course in Florida during the 2024 presidential campaign. “I heard a noise, and sort of thought it was a tray. I thought it was a tray going down many times,” he added. “There was a gun and some people really understood that quite quickly. Other people didn’t. I was watching to see what was happening, probably should have gotten down a little faster.”
The US president’s description of his reaction came at a hastily arranged news conference in the briefing room at the White House, where he had been rushed back by motorcade ahead of several senior cabinet officials who attended the dinner. Still wearing his black tie dinner jacket, Trump was joined at the lectern by Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. To the side stood his wife Melania Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Details of the Incident
Trump said the gunman was “a sick person, a very sick person” who was “running full blast” before being stopped by law enforcement. “He was a lone wolf wack job,” Trump added. The president noted that it was too early to determine whether the gunman had political motivations or was spurred by the US’s war against Iran, but said the man was from California and appeared to be working alone.
Trump confirmed that the gunman fired on a US Secret Service agent, who was saved by his bulletproof vest. He praised the agency’s response, saying they did a better job than at the Butler rally. When the incident unfolded, Trump had been seated at the high table inside the ballroom at the Washington DC Hilton hotel, in conversation with his wife and CBS News journalist Weijia Jiang, president of the correspondents’ association.
Reflections on Assassination Attempts
Asked why he thought he keeps being targeted, Trump compared himself to Abraham Lincoln, stating: “The people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that they go after. They don’t go after the ones that don’t do much, because they like it that way.” He also joked that he might not have run for president if Rubio had warned him about the potential dangers, but added: “It’s a dangerous profession but I don’t view it that way. I’m here to do a job.”
