Following the shooting at the White House correspondents' dinner on Sunday, United States President Donald Trump said the attacker, identified as Cole Allen, was a "pretty sick guy" who had been flagged to authorities by family members.
"He was a Christian, believer, and then he became an anti-Christian, and he had a lot of change," Trump told CBS' "60 Minutes" program. "He was probably a pretty sick guy."
The details of the manifesto contained a Christian precept of "turning the other cheek," to which Trump stated that it shows the accused hates Christians.
Trump was likely target of shooting at White House correspondents' dinner: US official"When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians. That's one thing for sure. He hates Christians, a hatred. And I think his sister or his brother actually was complaining about it. You know, they were even complaining to law enforcement. So he was, he was a very troubled guy," he said in a conversation with Fox News.
Sharing details of the shooting with CBS' '60 Minutes', the president said he wanted to see what was going on during the time he was escorted out by the Secret Service.
"I wanted to see what was happening. I wasn't making it that easy for them. I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time we started to realise maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of problem, a bad one - and different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom," he said.
Through a post on his Truth Social Handle, he claimed that officials have been demanding for "a large, safe, and secure ballroom be built on the grounds of the White House."
Shots fired, guests duck, Trump rushed out: What we know so far"What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE. This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough," his post read.
He further added, "it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House."
Video footage showed the incident unfolding at the Washington Hilton hotel, where Trump, his wife and first lady Melania Trump, and various other administration officials were present.
With over 2,000 attendees gathered, agencies reported that loud bangs were heard at a distance, prompting security to evacuate Trump, the first lady, and Vice President J D Vance immediately. The other officials were continued to be escorted out soon after.