Original subtitles

60 Minutes overtime.

>> Mr. President, thank you for doing this.

I'm glad you are safe. I am glad that

everyone is safe. How are you doing?

>> I'm doing well. It was quite an evening.

It was a very uh difficult thing to

watch, frankly, but uh doing very well.

>> Mr. President, do you know if you were

the target of the gunman? I don't know.

It sounded to me I read a manifesto is

he's radicalized. He was a Christian

believer and then he became an

anti-Christian and he had a lot of

change. He's been going through a lot

based on what he wrote. His brother

complained about him and I think

reported him to the police and his

sister likewise complained about him.

His family was very concerned. He was

probably a pretty sick guy. Mhm. And I

want to get to all of those details and

also walk through this what happened

last night. But first, this appears to

be the third attempted assassination on

your life. The first in Butler, the

second, of course, on the golf course in

Florida.

Why do you think so many people may be

trying to kill you?

So, I've said it and I've said it uh

numerous times and I've actually because

of the position I'm in, I've done quite

a bit of research into the word

assassination. Terrible word. And they

go after consequential presidents. They

go after presidents that do things. If

you look at what I've done, we've turned

this country around. We've taken a

country that was actually a dead

country. It was dying very rapidly and

it's the hottest country anywhere in the

world. We had a skirmish, a war,

whatever you want to call it, with

Venezuela. We won that very decisively

and we now have a great relationship

with Venezuela. It's been a very

profitable relationship and we're in

Iran right now. Other presidents should

have done it, but they never chose to do

it. They should have. They made a

terrible mistake by not doing it. It's

tougher now than it would have been 10

years ago or even 5 years ago because

you know thousands and thousands of

missiles and everything else if we

didn't do the B2 bomber attack that

alone was a big deal. The killing of

Salami, which I did in my first term,

was a big deal. But when you're a

consequential, when you do things, a lot

of things, and things that work out very

well for our country, uh Abraham Lincoln

was assassinated. McKinley was

assassinated. McKinley made the country

very rich. People don't realize that.

Then Teddy Roosevelt went out and spent

the money that was made by McKinley, but

he was very consequential actually, but

he was assassinated. So

>> you mentioned, Mr. president

consequential and your policies are also

controversial. Is that part of it?

>> Well, I don't think that way. I don't

think in terms of what they are. I just

think of what they are for the country.

For instance, I inherited the worst

border we've ever had in the history of

our country where 25 million people came

in. 25 million people at least. And many

of them were from hardcore criminals and

they were drug dealers and they were

from prisons. They emptied out prisons

into our country. They emptied out uh

mental institutions insane asylums into

our country. And I don't know if that's

controversial to say we have to move

those people out, but we have and but it

it is from the standpoint it you're

doing something and you're doing

something that's good. Uh things like uh

men playing in women's sports, I'm

against that. Things like transgender

for everyone, I'm against

[clears throat] that. There's so many

things that I'm against. I don't think

they're controversial. I think the other

side is controversial, but I do a lot of

things and I get things done. And you

know, we're respected now as a country

all over the world. And some people love

that, but some people probably don't.

>> Mr. President, I'm sure you've now had

the opportunity to see

>> some of the pictures of what happened

last night. And I want to walk through

that. Yeah,

>> it was just around 8:30 p.m. You are

sitting there next to the first lady.

The entertainer named O Pearlman is

talking to you. He's known as the

mentalist.

>> When did you know something was wrong?

>> Right around that point. Uh, in fact,

you can see the expression on the first

lady's

face and your president of the evening,

chairman or president or both, who is

doing a great job by the way, Jen, your

associate. Yeah, she was a terrific

person and she was, you know, she had

this big smile. I mean, they were, you

know, what they were talking about. They

were asking the name of Caroline's child

that he didn't know, I guess, but

>> the press secretary is expecting and he

was trying to guess the baby's name.

>> That's right. And that was the question.

That was what he and he was actually

able to get it. I'm not sure I'm a

believer in this, but he was able to get

it. and uh the first lady and your

associate were amazed. You could see the

and that was

>> shock on their faces.

>> It wasn't the shock about something

outside. But right after that, we heard

a big bang and it was either a gunshot

or it was a uh tray of dishes, which

happens a lot in ballrooms. And I was

hoping it was a tray, but it wasn't.

>> You mentioned the first lady, her face.

She looked very alarmed.

>> Was she scared?

>> Well, I don't want to say. And people

don't like having it said that they were

scared, but certainly, I mean, who

wouldn't be when you have a situation

like that? By that time, I think she

realized ahead of time that that was

more of a bullet than it was a train.

And she was

uh I looked at her face just a little

while ago before I came. I saw the

scene. They played it for me in, you

know, pretty good closeup

and uh she looked uh very upset about

what just took place. Yeah.

>> Mhm.

>> Why not?

>> You see the security moving quickly

within seconds, grabbing the vice

president by his coat, lifting him up,

>> bringing him out. Then the counter

assault comes in.

>> Took 10 seconds for them to flank you,

Mr. President. and then 20 seconds to

get you out. It looked chaotic at one

point. You were down. What was

happening?

>> Well, what happened is uh it was a

little bit me. I wanted to see what was

happening. And I wasn't making it that

easy for him. I wanted 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 uh

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." So,

you know, I'm telling guys

>> just at that moment where it looks like

you go sort of down with the service.

You were telling them to wait.

>> Well, I know what happened is then I

started walking with him. I turned I

started walking and then said, "Please

go down. Please go down on the floor."

So, I went down and first lady went down

also. But we were asked to go down by

the agents as I was walking. In other

words,

>> they wanted you almost to crawl.

>> I was standing up pretty much. I was

standing up and then turned around the

opposite direction and started pretty

much walking out pretty tall. A little

bent over because I, you know, I'm not

looking to be standing too tall. And uh

but I was walking out was pretty about

halfway there and they said, "Please go

down to the floor. Please go down to the

floor." So I dropped to the floor. So

did the first lady.

>> What was your thought at that moment?

What did the first lady say?

>> Well, my thought was, you know, I've

been through this before a couple of

times. And uh

she has not to this extent. She handled

it great. I mean, she was she's very

strong, smart. She got it. She knew what

was happening. She listened. I did, too,

by the way. This was the first time she

when they said Yeah. When they said drop

down, that meant trouble. And obviously

I'm the president and I listened to what

they said. Please drop down, sir. Please

drop down. So I was was walking halfway

and then I dropped down at the final

because we had little ways to go where

you're exposed to the ballroom

surroundings

and uh then I got up and we went to a

hold room for a while and I tried to get

them to continue the event if possible.

>> You wanted to go back in.

>> I did. I really did because I don't like

to have a criminal or sick person or

somebody whoever he is, you'll figure it

out. I mean, I think we're already

figuring out he's a man with a lot of

problems, but you don't want to have

somebody like this, you know,

essentially attacking our constitution,

attacking our country, uh changing

events that are, you know, it's an

important event. It was a very

>> a night celebrating the first amendment

and the freedom of the press.

>> That's right. Exactly. And uh and this

was a big this was a record set. I mean

this was a very big you know the that

dinner had some problems for the last

nine years and now and I I didn't help

them and this time I went and I felt

really good being there there was a

great camaraderie I wasn't sure what the

response it was you know a lot of press

a lot of media and when I walked in I

got a very nice applause I wasn't sure I

said you know told my wife I said you

know I may walk in and they may give me

a hard time or I may walk in let's see

what happens And I walked in and got

very nice uh a very I think they were

happy to see me there actually.

>> And I can tell you there there's the

biggest impact that I saw in the entire

evening was and I say this being

somebody that's had a lot of uh well

let's say we've argued a little bit to

get things that I want done. Uh I I

fight for a border and they fight for an

open border and you know we have a lot

of lot of differences. You've got some

tough words for the press in the back.

>> There was tremendous

by this time the event had taken place,

people were starting to feel safe. There

was tremendous camaraderie. I mean, I

saw Democrats. I saw senators. I saw

congressmen and women. I saw people that

weren't necessarily on my side from the

other party mostly. Pretty much the

Republicans are on my side, so I'm not

that, you know, surprised.

>> And they were going, "Way to go. Wait,

there was spirit in that room. I mean,

it was like the whole country was

together.

>> It was pretty amazing. It made a big

impression. It was very nice to see.

>> Do you think this will change your

relationship with the press?

>> Well, look, for whatever reason, we

disagree on a lot of subjects.

Uh, we talk about crime. I'm very strong

on crime. It seems like the press isn't.

Uh, it's not so much the press, it's the

press plus the Democrats because they're

almost one and the same. It's like the

craziest thing. Uh, I have the strongest

border we've ever had in the country.

We're, as you know, it it said zero

people for nine months came into our

country through our southern border. We

have a very tough border. Before me, 25

million people came in. I mean, whether

it's 20 or 25 or 30, but they say 25

million people came in.

>> Zero people. We have people coming in

legally.

>> Can I ask you something? The other side

doesn't like that.

>> There are things that I like that I

think are very standard. I want women to

be able to play women. I don't want men

in women's sports. And for whatever

reason, the other side likes men and

women sports. So when you say get along,

I don't think I could ever No, but I

don't think I could ever change my

>> feelings on certain policies. I want

strong borders. They want open borders.

There's such a difference.

>> Can I ask you, Mr. I I will say this

though after the uh event meaning it

looked like things were good. They we

knew he was caught. I was given the

information immediately.

There was a camaraderie that you just

have not seen in a while. It's very nice

to see.

>> The president, you Mr. president, the

vice president, the speaker of the

house, the secretary of state, secretary

of Hegsth, almost the entire line of

presidential succession. Yeah.

>> Was in that ballroom.

>> Who was the designated survivor?

>> Well, first of all, I have to say it's

not a safe ballroom. I'm building a safe

ballroom. And one of the reasons I'm

building it is exactly what happened

last night. Uh we're building a room

right there. If you walk out and move 20

yards to the left, you'll be right at

the entrance to the ballroom. And that

ballroom is being built on the safest

piece of property in this country.

Probably one of the safest pieces of

land in the world. We have

>> But it that's owned that's the White

House. The White House Correspondents

Center can't use White House.

>> It's able to be used by certainly the

White House. It says the White House

correspondents. Well, that's the White

House press. I'm sure that it's

available. you know, it's up to the

president, but that would be a made

available. And this has bulletproof

glass. This has, you know, this is the

highest level of security. Also, very

importantly, I could have built suites

on top. I could have done a lot of

things, but I said, "No, no, we have,

this has to be pure. This has to be

where people stay off property and they

go through one very impactful, very

strong entrance, one very powerful

entrance. There's no games with this.

This is the best, highest. This has all

sorts of uh security equipment at at

levels that you could never have in a

regular ballroom

>> and we're ahead of schedule. We're right

on budget, ahead of schedule. I wish it

could be even sooner, but we're, you

know, months ahead of schedule,

>> but it doesn't open till 28. So, you

know, that means you have another season

and a half to go,

>> right? But uh this is exactly why the

military and this is exactly why Secret

Service and all law enforcement want it

because you have maybe a thousand hotel

rooms above the ballroom we were in last

night. And I'm not knocking it. I'm just

saying in terms of maximum security.

It's not the best thing. You can do it,

but you can have problems like this.

They have an elevator that comes down

from the rooms. It's very close to the

ballroom.

>> Yeah. which makes sense.

>> So, we're doing we're doing something

that's going to have a tremendous impact

on solving this problem.

>> In that video,

you can see the gunman running through

the metal detectors and he fired off one

or two rounds.

>> His speed was rather incredible

actually. It was he was like a blur.

>> How did he get that close with the place

swarming with security? I I will say,

look, I I say it because I'm a big fan

of the people of law enforcement.

And you know, some of these people, they

may be crazy, but they're not stupid and

they figure things out. He ran 45 yards,

they say, and he just went to it and

then boom, he popped through it. A thing

like that could happen. I would say

this, having the uh equipment on the

outside of the building maybe is better

than having it on the inside of the

building. Sometimes that's tough.

Sometimes it's horrendous weather.

Sometimes it's pouring, it's raining,

it's lots of things happen, but maybe

last night was actually quite nice. The

weather was beautiful. So, maybe

something like that has to take place. I

can only say that from the moment they

realized that he was I mean he ran like

I think the NFL should sign him up he

was fast. When you look at it on tape

it's almost like a blur.

>> Right.

>> But it was amazing because as soon as

they saw that you could see them draw

their guns. They were so professional

aimed their guns and then they took them

down immediately.

Uh the doors were sealed, the room was

sealed, the ballroom itself where the

people were and uh they really they

really I think they did a great job.

>> I was in the room not far from you, Mr.

President. Could hear what sounded like

gunshots or commotion.

>> People nearby could smell the gunpowder.

Um everybody hit the floor.

>> Um there were a number of uh people who

were very very scared.

>> Yeah.

>> How worried were you that there were

going to be injuries?

I wasn't worried.

I understand life.

[snorts] We live in a crazy world.

You can really enhance your chances of

having a perfect situation. But

sometimes things will happen. Uh I did

want to see what was happening because I

you know the president in one way I

guess I should be hiding and another way

I want to see if I can be helpful. But I

I did watch because I could see what was

going on at the door. I also saw a lot

of very strong

uh physically strong,

really attractive law enforcement people

come through those doors. And frankly,

it made me feel very safe. Very, very

safe. There's nobody going to get by

them. And this was at the very back of

the ballroom. I'm looking at the back of

the ballroom. Big

>> the counter assault team that comes in.

>> They were very impressive. I think they

were very impressive. I think the whole

operation was very impressive. The only

thing you could say is maybe they could

move that counterpoint out deeper out.

In other words, move it to the outside

of the building.

>> Let's talk about that. Mr. President, I

wonder how much has the Secret Service

and the FBI briefed you about this

suspect, Cole Thomas Allen. Have you

read what a senior US official is

describing to us as a manifesto?

>> Yeah. Did you know that he emailed it to

family members? Not

>> We found all of that out this morning.

>> Right before the attack.

>> Yeah, we found that out this morning.

And the family members were concerned. I

think the brother called up the police.

I think the sister may have called the

police. Uh the parents were rather

devastated. He lived with the parents. I

saw the parents last night on television

opening the door. I assume that was his

parents.

Look, you have sick people and you have

to mitigate the risk. But some of these

sick people, it's amazing some of the

they're very sick, but they're also in

some cases very, very smart. He went to

great school. I can tell you the person

in Butler, I don't know if you ever

looked at his academic credentials. He

had almost 1,600 on his college boards.

1,600.

Nobody has. I mean, it's the upper

99.9 percentile or something. And he was

a crazy person, but a smart crazy

person. U I think the law enforcement

did a great job last night.

>> Let me ask you,

>> I guess if they didn't, I wouldn't be

here, but I think they really did a

great job.

>> Now, can you make adjustments? I mean,

we're also learning. Can you make

adjustments? I think the only adjustment

would be you move your security

equipment further away, but it was back

it was about 50 yards away. 50 yards is

a lot of yards. Now, when a guy's

running at that speed, he was a very

fast person.

>> Uh, and he got him by a little bit by

surprise, but that didn't matter because

he was totally subdued very shortly

after he passed one point.

>> The so-called manifesto is a stunning

thing to read, Mr. President. He appears

to reference a motive in it. He writes

this quote. Administration officials,

they are targets. And he also wrote

this. I am no longer willing to permit a

pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat

my hands with his crimes. What's your

reaction to

>> Well, I was waiting for you to read that

because I knew you would because you're

you're horrible people. Horrible people.

Yeah, he did write that. Uh I'm I'm not

a rapist. I didn't rape anybody. Uh,

>> oh, you think he was referring to me?

>> Excuse me.

>> I'm not a pedophile. You read that crap

from some sick person. Uh, I got

associated with all 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. 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, but you should be

ashamed of yourself reading that because

I'm not any of those things, Mr.

President. I was never Excuse me. Excuse

me.

>> You shouldn't be reading that on 60

Minutes. You're a disgrace. But go

ahead. Let's finish the interview. The

other thing that he wrote in disgraceful

the other thing in the manifesto that I

think is worth looking at in terms of

determining his motive is he had been

staying at the hotel since Friday. He

checked in. He said he had cased the

place and he wrote, "What the hell is

the Secret Service doing?" And he wrote

this quote. I expected security cameras

at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed

agents every 10 feet, metal detectors

out the wazoo. What I got is nothing. He

wrote like this level of incompetence is

insane.

Sir, you have already had two potential.

>> He was pretty incompetent, too, because

he got caught and he got caught pretty

easily. So, I'd say he was pretty

incompetent, too. You know, I could take

any event having to do with security or

anything else. I I can always find fault

no matter what. I could take a baseball

team that won the game 18 to nothing and

say they should have played better. Uh

those guys did a good job last night.

They did a really good job. Now, do they

make adjustments? They do. They learn.

They make adjustments. Uh we're living

in a different world with the internet

than we had uh years ago. But even years

ago, it was very dangerous. I mean, just

ask honest Lincoln. Pretty dangerous.

>> And uh but we are living a very, you

know, the internet, I think maybe more

than anything else, it's radicalized

some people. It's made people mentally

sick. It's also a great thing. It's a

phenomenal thing. We're a leader in it.

We have We're with a leader in AI. It's

a great thing, but you'll always find

problems,

>> but it's a different It's a different

age. It's a very different It's a very

different time.

>> I mentioned that because again, as his

motive, and you brought this up, he had

social media accounts that had

anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric.

>> You should read. Why don't you read all

the anti-Trump? Why don't you read it?

You just did. So why don't you read it?

>> Well, he had a lot of anti-Christian

rhetoric. He had he was part of a group

called the wide awakes. He had attended

a no kings protest in California. No

kings.

>> What did security tell you about what

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. Uh no, I'm

not a king. I I get it. I I I don't

laugh. I don't I I see these no kings

which are funded just like the southern

law was funded. You saw all that

southern law is financing the KKK and

lots of other radical terrible groups.

And then they go out and they say, "Oh,

we've got to stop the KKK." And yet they

give him hundreds of thousands and even

millions of dollars.

>> It's a total scam run by the Democrats.

Uh, it shows you that like

Charlottesville, Charlottesville was all

funded by the southern law. That was a

southern law deal, too. And it was done

to make me look bad and it turned out to

be a total fake. It basically was uh a

rigged election. This was a part of the

rigging of the election.

>> And that's what you really should be

doing. I mean, I hope one of your

60-minute episodes, which really hasn't

changed very much from the last few

years, I'm surprised, but one of those

episodes should be on southern law and

the fact that they spent millions and

millions of dollars on absolute far

right and just bad bad groups. And then

they'd use those groups and they'd say,

"These are Republican groups and we're

coming to your rescue." And they're the

ones that have funded it and they're the

ones that kept them keep them going. M

pretty sad. You think it's pretty sad,

>> Laura?

>> The allegations and the indictment.

>> They're not just allegations indictment.

These are facts. Okay. These are facts.

I mean, they have checks to the Plu Klux

Clan and many others and then they're

saying how bad they are and blaming the

Republican party and Republicans. These

are not just allegations. But go ahead.

>> Well, as you know, sir, you've been

accused of things and were able to go to

a court of law and adjudicate them. So,

yeah. Allegations after five years.

That's that's true. It takes you about

five years. I do want to talk about

that.

>> Well, I've also I've also won a lot of

money from fake news media where they

write falsely about me. And not that I

want to sue people because I don't,

>> but I bring lawsuits against the fake

news. I brought lawsuits against your

network and you paid me $38 million

because you did something that was so

horrible with Kamala. You put an answer

down that wasn't responsive to the

question because her answer, her real

answer was so bad. It was

electionthreatening

and you paid me a lot of money. You

tried to pull one off. It was terrible.

It was a terrible thing that you did.

And you know when you say, "Can we all

get along?" You can. But when people do

things like that or how about the BBC

where the BBC has me actually AI, they

have me saying a horrible statement. I

said, "I never said that." It turned out

they gave me an AI, a little AI

treatment where they have my lips

speaking words of hate, tremendous hate

that I never said. They don't know what

to do. They've admitted they're wrong.

They just don't know what to do. They

actually have me making a major

statement. And it wasn't me.

>> It was my face. It was my lips. My lips

were perfectly in sync with the words. I

said, "I can't believe it. I can't

believe it." So,

>> I hear you, Mr. President. So then when

you say can you get along I can get

along with anybody but if people are

going to cheat if people are going to be

uh fake

>> uh you sort of don't want to get along

>> on that. What do you say to people who

are encouraging political violence or

even cheering it on?

>> Well, I think the ones that are doing

that are much more far-left than far

right. Much more. When you see again

southern law, when you see some of the

statements that are made that are so

even when you say no kings, that's

that's encouraging. You're saying one of

the things this guy said in his

manifesto, which you didn't read, you

should have, is that he attended a no

kings rally along with not too many

people and probably it had an impact.

You know, they get up and they say

whatever they want. No, I'm against

that. I think it's terrible. Mhm.

>> Um, also at the dinner last night was

your secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

>> Yeah.

>> His sister Carrie Kennedy was there.

They've both witnessed their father and

their uncle be assassinated. That's

right.

>> Erica Kirk was there.

>> The House Majority Leader Steve Scaliz

was there.

>> Yeah.

>> Political violence has touched so many

people in that room. Is there something

that you as president can do? What can

be done to change the trajectory?

>> You know,

you go back 20 years, 40 years, 100

years, 200 years, 500 years. It's always

been there. People are assassinated.

People are injured. People are hurt. And

I'm not sure that any more now than

there was. I do think that the hate

speech of the Democrats, much more so,

is is very dangerous. I really think

it's very dangerous for the country. I

think the fact that I've accomplished so

much. I've made our country great again.

I mean, this country was dead. Our

country was dead a year and a half ago.

Sleepy Joe Biden had no idea what he was

doing. I don't think it was him either.

I think it was the people that surround

the surround him in the Oval Office at

the beautiful Resolute desk. I don't

think he knew what he was doing. He

didn't sign anything. He used the

autopen to sign 90% of the things. Um, I

think that they engendered I mean they

really created a tremendous amount of

anger and hate. Our country was dead and

now we have the hottest country anywhere

in the world. Nope. Not even close.

>> Last night

>> as an example investments in our country

for four years less than $1 trillion

under Biden in 11 months $18 trillion

under Trump. Now most people are happy

about that. But some people are really

angry about it. You know why? Because it

means we should be around for a long

time and they don't want that to happen.

>> Last night you had a very much a tone of

of unity when you were in the White

House press briefing room.

>> I think so. Yeah. I think uh I really

felt very calm. I feel very calm and I I

feel very calm right now other than a

couple of your questions which are meant

to antagonize and totally inappropriate

but I feel very calm. Mhm.

>> I thought last night was a very

important thing to do and people have

said it was I did it well. Not an easy

thing to do. You know, you leave a scene

like that and then you're supposed to

let our country and even the world know

that it's going to be okay.

>> And what about when we're talking about

the division in this country, the

political violence now? Many of your

cabinet secretaries live on military

bases.

>> Yeah. in order to because of the

potential threats against them.

>> Well, they choose to. I'm not sure that

uh they need to. They also have nice

places. You know,

>> Democrats did the same thing. Some of

the housing on the military bases is

very nice. I'm not sure they do it

necessarily for violence, but probably

this it's not the worst thing in the

world. Look, they're they're doing we

are consequential. This is a

consequential presidency. I have a great

cabinet and they do things that are very

good. But some people, you know, if

they're good for us, they're not good

for other people. Like as an example,

Iran when they're not going to have a

nuclear weapon, they will not have

they're not going to blow up the world.

They're crazy. They're not going to blow

up the world. And therefore,

they're not happy. And when they're not

happy, people do things that are

violent. Now, I'm not tracing anything

back to them, but certainly if they had

a shot, they'd probably take it. So when

you're a consequential president or if

you have a consequential administration,

things happen that wouldn't happen if

you're sleepy Joe Biden. Everyone was

happy with Biden. The world was happy.

You know why they were happy? Because

they were taking advantage of us because

they treated the United States like we

were stupid people and they made a lot

of money. But they don't do that

anymore. Last night was going to be your

first attendance at the White House

correspondents dinner.

>> That's right.

>> As president,

>> I was looking forward to making a

speech.

>> And

>> would have been a lot different had I

gone up and had I stayed It was very

interesting because I said I can't make

that speech. I was going to do a

>> pretty tell me rip roar and oh I won't

go into the total details but no I was

going to hit people really hard with

humor. In other words, really hard with

humor.

And I thought it was good when this

happened and I wanted it to go forward

because I just didn't want it canceled

by a crazy person. Our country is too

good for that. Our country is too

important for that and too powerful for

that. I didn't want that to happen. But

I said to and I thought it would go up.

I was expecting until the last moment

when the military came and secret

service and law enforcement.

>> Why did they say you couldn't go back

when you were saying I want to go back?

because we had a very sealed room. It

was very airtight. Once the doors opened

and the Secret Service, military, others

came in, the police came in, the law

enforcement, they came in, a lot of

them. We had a lot of law enforcement.

And it was a wall, but the doors were

open. It was breached by them.

>> If somebody happened to slip in, and

when they said that, I said, "You're

right." But I did want to go up, but it

would have been a much different speech.

I would have had to just get up and say,

"I love you all."

>> And there was love in the room. It was

amazing. There was love in the room.

>> And why do you think that is? Why do you

think that the tone changed

>> people came together, Democrats that

truly can't stand me?

Were saying, "Sir, could I just shake

your hand?" I mean, I'm I'm leaving. And

I'm seeing people, you know, high level

people and they're saying, "Sir,

great job. Sir, could I? One of them I

don't want. You probably have it on tape

someplace. One of them said, "Could I

hug you?" The big politician on the

other side. There was love.

It just all came together. It was very

amazing to see. It was a very beautiful

thing in a non beautiful moment really,

but it was a very beautiful thing that

was happening. Mhm. I hesitate to ask

you about this, but as you know, these

conspiracy theories out there on the

left and the right, that the event was

staged or that it didn't happen.

>> What did last night didn't happen?

>> That uh yeah, that it was because it was

your first time there or that Butler

didn't happen. These conspiracy theories

that are gaining traction on

>> October 7th didn't happen and

>> World War II didn't happen and the

Holocaust didn't happen and many things

didn't happen. Yeah. No, I hear it.

>> I I don't know. I I think they're more

sick than they are con people, but

there's a lot of con in it, too.

>> I haven't heard that last night didn't

happen. What? Usually it takes a little

bit longer.

>> Yeah,

>> usually they wait about two or three

months to start saying that.

>> I think that it was I think the And

forgive me, I'm not I don't pedal in

that stuff or certainly look at it

because we I was there. Um but the idea

I'm wondering where this is coming from.

>> That be a tough one. I think

>> that' be a tough I think that' be a

tough sale.

>> Yeah. Secret Service Now is currently

meeting as they always do to discuss

your security footprint.

>> The king is coming here. King of

England.

>> I think it's great. He'll be very safe.

Yeah.

>> Yeah. And

>> will your events be able to go go

forward? Your no concerns about security

going forward?

>> The White House grounds are really safe.

>> This area of not very many acres. It's

really safe. And he'll be staying here

now. I believe he's going to a couple of

other locations because he's here for a

few days. He's a great guy. Oh, he they

called and and they are so looking

forward to being here.

>> Mhm.

>> We spoke this morning.

>> So he the the king is fine. He's still

coming. The week your your events are

still going forward.

>> He's a good He's a good person.

>> There's no indication from the Secret

Service or the FBI that there is an

additional threat to you or other

administration officials?

>> No. No. No. This was a lone wolf in my

opinion. We may find out something else.

This was a sick lone wolf. He's a sicko

and uh very disturbed person. You could

see it with his journey through life. He

was a Christian. He was a a member of

the Christian club at his college,

Caltech, which is a good college. I'm

sure they're very embarrassed by this

because, you know, it's a great college.

Uh so that means he's pretty smart to be

in. They gota got to get pretty good

marks. Got to get pretty good board

scores. to hard school to get into.

>> So, he's a smart guy, but he's a sick

guy.

>> Yeah, that's the problem. I mean, it

would be a lot easier if they weren't

smart. Some of them are very smart

>> and uh they go around and all they want

to do is kill people. They're sick and

they have to be put away.

>> I understand today is the first lady's

birthday. Is that right?

>> Today's her birthday? Yes. Happy

birthday. Happy birthday, Melania.

[snorts] Today's her birthday. H how how

does that how do you how do you deal

with that after after what happened last

night?

>> Yeah, by the time we get back here it's

like around 12:00 and I said happy

birthday, darling.

>> Mhm.

>> And you were back here in the White

House, I understand, in 5 minutes.

>> Well, they they move fast. Yeah.

>> Yeah, they move fast.

>> I mean, look, it's a pretty quick drive.

It's not very far away.

>> But think of it. the security of having

this really perfect facility built with

at the highest highest security levels

on the grounds where you're not taking

I'm talking about any president by the

way other presidents will use the

ballroom a lot more than me I'm going to

have four or five months left but other

presidents will be having having the the

you know that tremendous asset is going

to be so great but outside of that it's

dangerous you know you need tremendous

that you could never build. You can't

have thousands of rooms on top of a

ballroom and have security, real

security. Now, with that being said, I

hope they do this event again and I hope

they do it again soon. And

>> you are committed to doing this event

with the White House correspondents

dinner. It's about freedom of the press.

>> I want them because I don't want to see

it be cancelled. I don't want to have a

crazy person. I think it's really bad

for a crazy person to be able to cancel

something like this to, you know, I

remember with a certain event that took

place, I don't even like mentioning it,

where they had sports games going on and

it was a big decision. Do we cancel the

games or do we not? And when you cancel,

you're sort of playing right into the

hands of these nut jobs and they are

really sick people.

>> I don't want to have uh an event like

that. It was a great event. That was an

event I so I refused to do it the first

four years because I felt the press

treated me very unfairly. I had a right

not to do it. I didn't do it and the

thing died. It was dying and I even

though the press treated me pretty

badly. Uh it's hard to treat me look I

won the election. You know people were

fighting me. Everybody not everybody. I

I have some there are great people in

the press too I can name but I don't

want to

>> I don't want to embarrass your show. We

have some great people in the press.

some very fair people and people that

are just on my side. But for the most

part, it's a very liberal or very

progressive, let's use the word liberal,

liberal press. But, uh, I was just

really I was really happy to see the the

I don't know how long it'll last,

the relationship, the friendship, the

spirit after a very bad event took

place. Now, the event turned out to be

much less bad because nobody was killed,

nobody was hurt. The Secret Service

agent uh had I spoke to him. He had a a

bulletproof vest on. Unbelievable.

>> He's okay.

>> Oh, he's 100%. Yeah. No, he was 100%. He

didn't want to go to the hospital. He

really didn't. They asked him to go. He

didn't want to go. He said, "I don't

need to go to the hospital." But he went

because they asked him to go. I would

have said to tell him not to. If he

doesn't want to go, what do you force

him to go for?

>> Because then the press would say, "Oh,

he was badly hurt." No, he didn't want

to go to the hospital and they forced

him to go. And I'm not saying they're

wrong, but I would have said if he

doesn't want to go, don't make him go.

>> Well, I know the White House

Correspondents Association very much

appreciates you going last night and

honoring a commitment to do it.

>> I hope we're going to do it again.

Norura, tell them to get it going. And

we should do it within 30 days and

they'll have even more security and

they'll have bigger perimeter security.

It'll be fine. But tell them to do it

again. We can't let something be. It's

not that I want to go. It's I have I'm

very busy. I don't need that. I think

it's very important that they do it

again.

>> Well, thank you. Thank you, Mr.

President.

>> Thank you very much.