'You're a disgrace': Trump lambasts Norah O'Donnell for reading shooter's manifesto during interview
Donald Trump is not known for his bonhomie with the press, and this was on full display when he sat down with CBS's Norah O’Donnell. All it took was one awkward question for the slight thaw between Trump and the press to dissipate, less than 24 hours after they cheated death collectively. The interview began innocuously but took a turn as soon as O'Donnell asked for Trump's reaction to the contents of the shooter's manifesto. She read the passages from the manifesto where the shooter, Cole Tomas Allen, wrote that his targets were officials from the Trump administration.
"'I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.' What's your reaction to that?" O'Donnell asked Trump. This triggered a strong reaction as Trump rushed to exonerate himself. He called O'Donnell a "horrible person" for reading the manifesto. He then went on to state that he was not a "rapist." "I didn't rape anybody," Trump said.
.@NorahODonnell is a class-act. An experienced journalist who I greatly admire. She asked the president a fair question, but in turn, because he didn’t like it, had to call her a ‘disgrace.’ https://t.co/0jADYKlkRf
— Charlie Davis (@CharlesPDavis) April 27, 2026
O'Donnell asked if Trump thought that Allen was referring to him when he wrote the words "pedophile" and "rapist" in the manifesto. Trump was visibly irked by the question as he lambasted O'Donnell. "I'm not a pedophile….You read that crap from some sick person? Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, lets say, Epstein or other things," Trump retorted. He categorically called Allen a "sick person" and said that O'Donnell should be ashamed for reading the manifesto because he is not "any of those things."
A massive meltdown on 60 Minutes. Prominent journalist Norah O'Donnell reads the shooter's manifesto calling the administration pedophiles and rapists. US President Donald Trump completely loses it, getting hyper-defensive and viciously attacking her for doing her job. pic.twitter.com/Io4s19rPpu
— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) April 26, 2026
Trump also had to field questions about the Secret Service's competence after O'Donnell criticized the security arrangements at the hotel where he had been staying as a guest. Trump has also been the target of two assassination attempts in the past. He argued that Allen was the "incompetent" one, and his team did a "good job" with his security.
O'Donnell, a senior correspondent with CBS News, sat down with President Trump for an interview on Sunday following the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday evening. The shooting took place at the Washington Hilton, where high-ranking officials, journalists, and celebrities had gathered as part of the tradition that dates back to 1921. Allen was apprehended soon after storming through the lobby outside the ballroom.
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
Trump has had several run-ins with the media over the course of the last decade. He has accused them of corruption and harbouring a left-wing bias. There is a plethora of insults in his arsenal when he speaks about organisations that paint him in an unpleasant light. He has sued various outlets for perceived inaccuracies, like the Wall Street Journal. He has also blacklisted the Associated Press from the Oval Office.
