Trump calls reporter a 'disgrace' over what she reads out during interview about dinner shooting
Donald Trump's relationship with the media has rarely been good and now the President has called another female reporter a 'disgrace' after what she read out during a recent interview.
The 79-year-old was speaking with CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell on 60 Minutes Sunday, discussing the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Trump and his wife Melania were swiftly escorted away from the scene on Saturday night when a shooter, later identified by US media as Cole Tomas Allen, opened fire.
The President praised the First Lady for what she said shortly after the first sound of shooting, and fortunately everyone was able to escape pretty much unharmed, despite the gunman managing to sneak past security with guns and knives.
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Allen's manifesto, which he reportedly shared with family 10 minutes before the attempted shooting, seems to suggest that he had grievances with several members of the Trump administration due to the allegations that have long been levelled against the president.
Although he has been named hundreds of times in the controversial Epstein Files, this does not imply wrongdoing and he has never been formally charged in relation to the allegations inside the files.
During the interview, O'Donnell opted to read out a section of Allen's manifesto and put it to the president, which saw him launch a tirade of abuse at the 52-year-old.
She said: "He appears to reference a motive. In it, he writes this: quote, ''Administrative officials, they are targets.' He also wrote this: 'I am no longer willing to permit a paedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.' What's your reaction to that?"
Trump replied: "Well, I was waiting for you to read that, because I knew you would. Because you're horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I am not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody."
O'Donnell attempted to interrupt the President, asking: "Oh, do you think he was referring to you?"
"Excuse me. Excuse me. I am not a paedophile,' he interjected, cutting the anchor off.
"You read that crap from some sick person. 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."
The President certainly seemed to be regretting agreeing to the interview but continued to level criticism at O'Donnell after her line of questioning.
He said: "But I said to myself, you know, I'll do this interview and they'll probably — I read the manifesto. It was 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."
According to the New York Post, Allen's manifesto read: "Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I'm not the person raped in a detention camp. I'm not the fisherman executed without trial.
"I'm not a school-kid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behaviour; it is complicity in the oppressor's crimes.
"In order to minimise casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls).
'I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn't come to that."
Topics: Donald Trump
James Moorhouse