Trump Explains the Delay in His Evacuation From White House Correspondents' Dinner

President Trump opened up about the chaotic moments following the shooting at the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner during an interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell on 60 Minutes, which aired Sunday, April 26.

The 79-year-old commander-in-chief addressed questions about the timeline of his evacuation alongside First Lady Melania Trump, acknowledging that his own actions may have slowed the process. When O'Donnell pointed out that it took approximately 10 seconds for agents to form a protective perimeter and 20 seconds total to extract him from the ballroom, Trump explained what was going through his mind.

"I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn't making it that easy for him," Trump said of his security detail. "I wanted 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 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.'"

The President went on to describe the moment when agents instructed him to get down to the floor. "They said, 'Please go down. Please go down on the floor,' so I went down, and first lady went down also," Trump recounted. "We were asked to go down by the agents as I was walking."

O'Donnell noted that agents appeared to want him to crawl, to which Trump elaborated on his positioning. "I was standing up, and then turned around the opposite direction and started pretty much walking out, pretty tall, a little bent over, because, you know, I'm not looking to be standing too tall but I was walking out," he explained. "It was pretty about halfway there, and they said, 'Please go down to the floor. Please go down to the floor.' So I dropped to the floor. So did the first lady."

During the same interview, Trump also criticized O'Donnell, calling her a "disgrace" after she read from the gunman's manifesto during their conversation.

The gunman involved in the incident faced an arraignment scheduled for Monday, April 27.