Trump says he ‘wasn’t worried’ during Washington press dinner shooting

BBC:

US President Donald Trump says he “wasn’t worried” while he was being evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, after a gunman attempted to storm the ballroom.

“I wasn’t worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world,” Trump said during an interview with CBS News programme 60 Minutes, one day after the shooting at a Washington DC hotel on Saturday night.

US media named Cole Tomas Allen, 31, as the suspect, who was arrested after police said he opened fire near a security checkpoint during the event. He is due to appear in court on Monday.

The FBI’s criminal investigation and terrorism task-force are investigating the incident.

US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the suspect was “likely” targeting senior White House officials in attendance based on “preliminary” findings, adding that the alleged gunman’s motive is still under investigation.

Trump was joined at the event on Saturday by high-ranking members of his government, including Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of Health Robert F Kennedy Jr, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and top aide Stephen Miller.

After being rushed off the stage to safety, Trump later told reporters at a briefing on Saturday: “I can’t imagine that there’s any profession that’s more dangerous”.

In a statement on Sunday, the White House said Trump “stands fearless” after surviving, alongside cabinet members, “an assassination attempt when shots were fired”.

The White House Correspondents’ Association president, Weijia Jiang, called the attack “harrowing”.

On Sunday, Jiang, who was sitting next to Trump at the dinner, thanked the Secret Service for actions which “protected thousands of guests”.

On Sunday, Trump told Fox News that the suspect “had a lot of hatred in his heart for a while”, and said his family knew he had “difficulties”. He added that the suspect had a “manifesto”, and suggested he was “strongly anti-Christian”.

US media are reporting a history of anti-Trump social media posts from 31-year-old Allen, citing law enforcement sources.

At about 20:35 local time (00:35 GMT) on Saturday gunshots rang out in the foyer of the Washington Hilton hotel, where the White House Correspondents’ dinner was taking place in the ballroom on a floor below.

The president, First Lady Melania Trump and the vice-president were also rushed out of the room by security.

Video of Secret Service agents rushing JD Vance from the event several moments before Trump was evacuated circulated across social media, with some viewers questioning the timing.

In an interview with the news programme 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said he “wasn’t making it easy” for agents to evacuate him from the room.

“I wanted to see what was happening… I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time we started to realise, maybe it was a bad problem.”

At one point, Trump said security asked him to take cover and “please go down on the floor”. He praised his detail as “great people”.