Trump denies he fell during White House correspondents' dinner evacuation raising wider questions
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, Crime
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics, Crime
Donald Trump alleged that he did not fall over during an attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, reporting that Secret Service agents directed to ‘crawl’ across the floor.
On Saturday (25 April), an armed man was accused of rushing a White House security checkpoint and exchanging gunfire with law enforcement.
Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old teacher and engineer, is accused of opening fire outside of the Correspondents' Association Dinner, where Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and other White House officials gathered with journalists, as per NBC News.
On Sunday (26 April), the 79-year-old attempted to set the record straight on what went down at the evening event, which is expected to be rescheduled within the next month.
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In clips shared to social media, Vice President JD Vance, 41, could be seen being manoeuvred away from the table by the Secret Service.
Seconds later, armed police stormed the room while security officials got their arms around the US President.
You can watch the moment below:
After leaving the table, it appeared the Republican took an accidental tumble, which resulted in three more suit-clad officers carrying him away.
However, the businessman has claimed he did not fall over.
Instead, he said that he and his wife, Melania, 56, were asked to hit the ground.
Trump also claimed that he didn’t make his Secret Service’s life ‘easy’ and that he wasn’t immediately escorted from the Washington Hilton’s event space as he wanted to see ‘what was happening’.
“By that time we started to realise maybe it was a bad problem, a different kind of a problem. Different than what would be normal noise from the ballroom which you hear all of the time,” he alleged in an interview with CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell, 52.
“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’,” the father-of-five continued, before being interrupted and probed on whether he really ‘went down’ with his guards.
“What happened is that then I started walking with them and turned and I started walking.
“And they said ‘please go down, please go down on the floor’. So I went down and the First Lady went down also. But we were asked to go down by the agents as I was walking.”
When asked to confirm if the Secret Service wanted him to ‘crawl out’ of the room, Trump said: “Pretty much.”
He then reiterated that he planned on walking out and into safety when he and Melania were asked to hit the floor.
Critics have been quick to negatively comment on Trump’s claim, with one writing via X: “You fell down. Stop lying.”
“Oh please. Enough with this ‘don't believe your eyes’ shit. This is why nobody believes anything he says or does - it's all spewage.”
Others have been quick to defend the politician, with one user typing: “Wow I don’t know of another president that is not afraid in the face of a threat like this?”
“At this point Sir, it doesn’t matter whether they told you or not, what matters is your safety. Everything shouldn’t be politicised,” someone else reported.
A third added: “Imagine crouching for safety and millions debate your body language the next day.”
Trump later branded O’Donnell a ‘disgrace’ for electing to read part of the suspected shooter’s alleged manifesto during the 60 Minutes interview.
“The so-called manifesto is a stunning thing to read, Mr. President. He appears to reference a motive in it,” she began.
“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.'”
“Yeah, he did write that. I’m — I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody,” Trump retorted.
“I’m not a pedophile. You read that c**p from some sick person? I got associated with all — stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated.
He continued: “You know, he’s a sick person. But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things.”
“You shouldn’t be reading that on 60 Minutes. You’re a disgrace. But go ahead. Let’s finish the interview.”
The White House confirmed to The Hill that the suspected shooter did write such a manifesto.