\n<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump lashed out at CBS News\u2019 Norah O\u2019Donnell in an interview Sunday for quoting from the manifesto of the suspected gunman who tried to storm the White House Correspondents Dinner less than 24 hours earlier.<\/p>\n
Trump had initially expressed a sense of camaraderie with members of the press corps who hosted him at their annual dinner and experienced the same initial panic when armed law enforcement agents stormed into the ballroom.<\/p>\n
But when O\u2019Donnell, during an interview recorded at the White House on Sunday, quoted from the accused gunman Cole Allen\u2019s apparent manifesto \u2014 \u201cI am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,\u201d she read \u2014 Trump, who\u2019d been relatively subdued in his responses, flashed a familiar anger.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people. Horrible people,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYeah, he did write that. I\u2019m not a rapist. I didn\u2019t rape anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
O’Donnell interjected, \u201cOh, do you think he was referring to you?\u201d<\/p>\n
But the president blew past her question, declaring, \u201cI\u2019m not a pedophile.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump bristled at what he seemed to deem an insinuation about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who was not mentioned by name in the manifesto or by O\u2019Donnell. \u201cYou read that crap from some sick person,\u201d the president said. \u201cI got associated with stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell had just asked Trump if he thought the experience at the dinner would change his experience with the press. He answered obliquely, asserting that the press corps was largely left-leaning and opposed to his policies on immigration and crime.<\/p>\n
But his scathing response to her moments later offered a much clearer answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should be ashamed of yourself for reading that, because I\u2019m not any of those things,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be reading that on \u201860 Minutes.\u2019 You\u2019re a disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n