President Donald Trump remained steadfast in his administration’s goals when asked about possible motivations behind the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.
“Some of us who have covered Butler experienced another horrific day two years ago. What felt similar? … Are you concerned about something like this happening?” a reporter asked Trump during a press conference after the event.
“I can’t be concerned. I can only get great people,” Trump said in response. “They did the job, a much, in my opinion, a much better job than Butler. Butler had one weak spot that we all know about. Somebody should have been up there. But even Butler, we had a … sniper on our side within 4.2 seconds, from a distance of about 400 yards, one shot, and he was gone.”
The suspect, who has been widely identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old teacher from Los Angeles, California, charged a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton during a dinner celebrating the press who cover the White House, as well as the First Amendment. He was “taken down” by the Secret Service after he shot one officer. The bullet hit the officer’s bulletproof vest, and he is recovering.
When asked if he believed the shooting might have been linked to the Iran war, Trump said he didn’t believe that to be the case. The president noted that more information about the suspect would be released in the coming days.
After the Butler shooting in July 2024, in which a lone wolf shot a bullet that wounded Trump in the ear, the Secret Service restricted the protocol for Trump’s outdoor events. After this event, which was held indoors in a ballroom downstairs, Trump said he didn’t expect the Secret Service to limit his attendance at indoor events as well.
“Well, then you just don’t do events. Now, I can’t do that. I have to … you know, it is what it is. We have to do it,” he said.
He struck a similar tone when discussing his concerns about political violence, which has been on the rise in recent years. Trump has faced two assassination attempts, one during the aforementioned Butler rally and another at his golf club in Florida.
“I’m concerned about everything,” he said when asked about concerns over political violence. “I can’t be so concerned that you can’t function.”
“Look, I’m here to do a job. As part of the job, it is a dangerous … I can’t imagine that there’s any profession that’s more dangerous,” Trump continued. “But I love the country, and I’m very proud. I’m very proud of the job we’ve done. You see what’s happened? We have a great country. We’ve got, I think, the most successful, the hottest country anywhere in the world. This happened over a period of just a year, and we’re going to do great things. But with that come risks. There’s no question about it.”
He said the one thing that would turn the “temperature down,” in a reporter’s words, would be “if I decided to just not do much, let everybody rip us off and take advantage of us.”
He remained confident in the capabilities of his protection and other law enforcement who were present in the area, saying: “You have the greatest security in history. If you have a whack job who’s got a brain, but it’s a little bit distorted, or a lot distorted, they can make trouble.”
He also praised the decisive actions of law enforcement who evacuated top administration officials when the emergency began.
