Trump Talks to ‘60 Minutes’ About White House Correspondents Dinner Shooting, Says He ‘Wasn’t Making It Easy’ For Secret Service

Sunday night’s “60 Minutes” will now include an interview with President Donald Trump, conducted by CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell at the White House in the wake of the shooting on Saturday night near the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“After law enforcement officers stopped a gunman from rushing the Washington Hilton ballroom where President Trump, members of his cabinet, and journalists convened, @norahodonnell speaks with the president about the experience and what it signals about the state of the country. Tonight on ’60 Minutes,'” the show wrote on social media.

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CBS News said the interview will focus on the shooting, “which she witnessed first-hand as an attendee at the annual gathering hosted in Washington, D.C. that celebrates the First Amendment and White House correspondents.”

According to CBS News, this reps the second time “60 Minutes” has interviewed Trump since he returned to the presidency for his second term. O’Donnell last interviewed Trump in November 2025. Keith Sharman and Maria Gavrilovic are the producers of the segment.

Here’s an excerpt, as posted on X.com, in which Trump told O’Donnell he “wasn’t making it easy” for the Secret Service: “I wanted to see what was happening,” he told O’Donnell. “To see what was going on. And by that time, we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, bad one, and different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time. 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.'”

Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and numerous cabinet officials were evacuated from the event on Saturday as the shooter was tackled by law enforcement on a different floor from the event. Officials said the suspect charged a security checkpoint and is reported to have exchanged gunfire with Secret Service officials.

Shortly after, the President held a press conference and promised the dinner would be rescheduled within 30 days. “I fought like hell” not to cancel the event, he said. He added, “We’re going to do it again. We’re not going to let anybody take over our society. We’re not going to cancel things out, because we can’t do that.” He also took advantage of the moment to push his desire to construct a new ballroom at the White House, something the administration continued to press on Sunday.

Later, in a social media post, WHCA president and CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang wrote, “I know many of you are still processing what happened last night. Thank you to the USSS and all the law enforcement agencies who kept us safe. We are so grateful. To the members of the WHCA, we will get through this together…. We express our deepest gratitude to the U.S. Secret Service and all law enforcement personnel who ensured the safety of everyone in the ballroom and beyond. Their actions protected thousands of guests, and we wish a full and speedy recovery to the officer who was injured in the line of duty. We are grateful everyone in attendance was unharmed, including the President, the First Lady, and the Vice President.”

The Trump interview will now lead Sunday’s “60 Minutes,” pushing the report “Disaster Tourists” to a future episode. Still airing is a segment with former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who is now battling a terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis. CBS’ Scott Pelley sat down with Sasse in an interview and town hall that was scheduled to be a part of “60 Minutes” and also a special edition of “Things That Matter.” The extended version of that interview will be available on “60 Minutes Overtime,” the “60 Minutes” podcast and “Things That Matter,” which will appear on Paramount+ and CBS News digital platforms. Maria Gavrilovic is the producer of that package.

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