Donald Trump has offered an unusual explanation for why he was evacuated after Vice President JD Vance during a shooting scare at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night. The former president insisted he 'wanted to see what was going on' before being escorted to safety.
Appearing on 60 Minutes alongside CBS News's Norah O'Donnell, Trump recounted the moment he was led away after Vance had already been rushed out. O'Donnell noted that the vice president was escorted approximately 30 seconds before Trump, as Secret Service agents surrounded him and guided him to safety.
'Well, what happened is, it was a little bit me,' Trump explained. He then made the puzzling claim that he 'wanted to see what was happening' despite video footage showing him on the ground. 'And by that time, we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem, a different kind of problem, a bad one. And different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time,' he added.
Footage circulating online captures the dramatic scenes as guests dived beneath tables while Secret Service agents frantically rushed to usher key officials out of the ballroom. The president continued: 'And 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, wait a minute.' Then, I started walking with them. I turned, 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.'
Trump confirmed he was 'pretty much' asked to crawl out of the room for safety. The incident involved Cole Allen, the man accused of attempting to force his way into the ballroom during the dinner while carrying firearms and knives. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed on Sunday that Allen had travelled across the country ahead of the event and is believed to have been plotting to target President Donald Trump and other senior administration figures. Authorities stated that he attempted to force his way into the vast Washington Hilton ballroom but was overpowered during a chaotic confrontation that resulted in shots being fired.
