Trump says extremists are ‘radicalized’ by Democrats and condemns ‘hate speech after assassination attempt at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

President Trump claimed Democrats were radicalizing far-left agitators “with hate speech following the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” while an MS NOW host accused him of spreading ‘violent rhetoric.’

Trump sat down with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell on Sunday to discuss the moment suspect Cole Tomas Allen, 31, began shooting at the Washington Hilton, where more than 2,000 journalists and politicians had gathered for the annual gala.

Investigators later found a manifesto that Allen allegedly wrote before the shooting, detailing his desire to target members of Trump’s Cabinet, as well as online posts containing anti-Trump rhetoric.

He also attended the No Kings protest, which Trump claimed was funded by Democrats and left-wing advocacy groups.

“I see these ‘No Kings’ being funded just like Southern Law was funded; you saw Southern Law funding the KKK and a lot of other radical scary groups, and then they go out and say, ‘Oh, we’ve got to go out and stop the KKK,’ but they still give them hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars,” Trump told O’Donnell, referring to an indictment the Justice Department filed against the civil rights group.

‘This is a total fraud run by the Democrats,’ he continued, later adding: ‘They’re the ones funding this.’

Trump also stated that the internet “radicalizes some people” and “makes some mentally ill” and argued that the far left spreads violent rhetoric.

“I think the Democrats’ hate speech is much more dangerous,” Trump said. ‘I think this is really dangerous for the country.’

The president sat down with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell to discuss this harrowing experience

Suspected gunman Cole Allen, 31, (pictured) allegedly wrote a manifesto detailing his desire to target members of the Trump administration

Earlier on MS NOW, Antonia Hylton claimed Trump was ‘definitely contributing’ to violent political rhetoric.

Speaking on The Weekend: Primetime, Hylton began by praising the president for being “very thoughtful” in the wake of the attack.

MS NOW then played a clip of the president saying it was ‘a very sad evening in many ways’ but also represented a moment of unity between Democrats and Republicans.

Trump also applauded law enforcement and thanked the mainstream media for “responsible reporting” at a news conference late Saturday.

But Hylton suggested his conciliatory words ring hollow, given his past statements about political rivals and those in the media.

‘I know there are some voters, some Americans, who I think would like to hear more from the president. You know, the one who just weeks ago posted online about the possible destruction of an entire civilization and called his political enemies “vermin, lunatics, terrorists, the enemy within,” partly referring to Trump’s fiery rhetoric on the war in Iran.

‘Of course he at least contributed, he contributed to the political rhetoric. So, you know, while it’s nice to hear that kind of sense of unity or at least appreciation across the aisle, I also know there are people who feel like those words fall short.’

President attacks O’Donnell after reading some of the most incendiary lines of Allen’s alleged letter

Allen appeared to target Trump for his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, writing in his alleged manifesto that he would ‘no longer allow a pedophile, rapist and traitor to cover my hands with his crimes.’

But Trump disputed those claims, with O’Donnell reading them aloud during the Sunday night interview; because he denied raping anyone.

‘You read this nonsense from a sick person. I was associated with everything that had nothing to do with me. “I am completely exonerated,” Trump said.

‘Your friends on the other side of the table are the ones involved with, say, Epstein or other things.’

Trump has never been charged with a crime in connection with Epstein, who he said kicked out of his Mar-a-Lago club decades ago.

Instead, the president claimed he was targeted because he was ‘influential’.

“I’ve said this and I’ve said it many times, actually, because of the situation I’m in, I’ve done a lot of research on the word ‘assassination,’ it’s a terrible word. And as a result, they go after presidents who come out, they go after presidents who do things,” he said.

“If you look at what I did, we turned this country around, we actually took over a dead country – it was dying very quickly – and it’s the hottest country in the world,” the president continued, referring to his efforts in Iran and Venezuela.

Trump then compared himself to assassinated former Presidents Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley, saying they did ‘things that worked out very well for our country.’

‘We’re respected as a country all over the world now and some people love it, but some probably don’t.’

Allen was arrested after passing the security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton

Allen was apparently staying at the Hilton Hotel where the event was taking place ahead of the premiere, and his family said he would regularly visit the shooting range to practice with his guns.

He was later said to have been armed with two guns and a knife when he allegedly tried to bypass a security checkpoint and reach the door of the ballroom where the president was gathered with top cabinet members and thousands of journalists.

Trump said the gunman appeared “blurry” in security footage showing him running down the hotel hallway on Saturday night and joked that the “NFL should have taped him.”

‘But it was surprising because as soon as they [law enforcement] You could see them draw their weapons when they saw that. “They were so professional, they pointed their guns and then they just took him down,” Trump told O’Donnell.

Meanwhile, in the ballroom, Trump said: It may have slowed the Secret Service’s response after attendees heard the gunshots.

Security said he ‘wanted to see what was going on’ in the moments before he realized this could be a bad problem… [the] ‘The normal noise you hear from the ballroom and hear all the time.’

“I was surrounded by great people, and I probably caused them to be a little slower,” Trump continued. ‘And I said, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute, let me see.’

The president added that First Lady Melania Trump, who looked shocked in the footage of the incident, was one of the first to realize that the sound they heard was a gunshot.

First Lady Melania Trump looked stunned before being escorted out of the room with the president after gunshots rang out

Guests photographed hiding after President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner

Secret Service agents then escorted the president and first lady from the ballroom.

They were about halfway there when Trump said the agents told him and his wife, “Please get on the ground, please get on the ground.”

When O’Donnell asked him what he was thinking at that moment, Trump said he was used to it.

“I was thinking I’ve been through that a few times,” the president replied. ‘When they said ‘get down’ it meant trouble.’

The president had previously faced assassination attempts at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024 and at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, months later.

First Lady Melania Trump was not present at any of the previous shootings, but Trump said Sunday that her husband acted professionally.

He understood. He knew what was happening. “He listened,” he said.

Despite Saturday’s chaos, Trump said he wanted to reschedule the annual Correspondents’ Dinner and did not want a “crazy person” to manage to cancel it.

He said next time it would involve ‘greater security’ and ‘more perimeter security’.