Trump took gunman’s words personally in ’60 Minutes’ chat | Opinion – The Arizona Republic

• Donald Trump’s “60 Minutes” interview with Norah O’Donnell followed a shooting incident outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
• The interview became contentious when O’Donnell quoted from the alleged shooter’s manifesto, which contained accusations against Trump.
• Trump called O’Donnell “a disgrace” for reading the quote on air but completed the interview.

A “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday, April 26, showed the remarkably strange relationship between Donald Trump and the U.S. media. A relationship in which the president relentlessly attacks reporters and whines about fake news, but obviously craves the attention and, in some corners, the approval.

Bouncing between chummy and confrontational ― and involving one of the targets of Trump’s most egregious attacks on free speech ― the interview, in which Norah O’Donnell questioned Trump, was an exceptionally quick turnaround for “60 Minutes,” whose stories typically take months to produce. This was a sit-down conducted earlier Sunday in the wake of shots being fired just outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night.

Trump’s ’60 Minutes’ interview with Norah O’Donnell turned contentious

The suspect, who several media outlets have identified as Cole Tomas Allen, was taken into custody immediately after the shots were fired. Before the shooting, Allen had written what Trump, in an earlier interview with Fox News, referred to as a “manifesto,” saying that those in Trump’s administration were “targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.”

O’Donnell asked Trump if he thought he was the target. He said, “I don’t know. It sounded, to me, I read a manifesto; he’s radicalized. He was a Christian believer, and then he became an anti-Christian, and he had a lot of change. He’s been going through a lot, based on what he wrote. His brother complained about him, and I think reported him to the police. And his sister, likewise, complained about him. His family was very concerned. He was probably a pretty sick guy.”

But targeting officials is not all of what Allen wrote. O’Donnell read this portion to Trump, as well: “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”

The reference was to accusations aimed at Trump due to his former close association with Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in jail in 2019, awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Trump has not been charged with any crime in relation to Epstein.

A remarkable exchange followed.

“Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people,” Trump said. “Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”

O’Donnell said, “Oh, you think, do you think he was referring to you?” Which, come on. Of course he was.

Trump called O’Donnell ‘a disgrace’

“I’m not a pedophile,” Trump continued. “Excuse me. Excuse me. I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? I got associated with all stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated. Your friends on the other side of the plate are the ones that were involved with, let’s say, Epstein or other things. But I said to myself, ‘You know, I’ll do this interview and they’ll probably’ — I read the manifesto. You know, he’s a sick person. But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things.”

To her credit, O’Donnell neither flinched nor backed down. “Mr. President,” she said, “these are the gunman’s words.”

“You shouldn’t be reading that on ’60 Minutes,’” Trump said. “You’re a disgrace. But go ahead. Let’s finish the interview.”

And so they did, including a segment in which Trump both praised and criticized the media, after O’Donnell asked if the shooting would change the relationship between Trump and the media.

“For whatever reason, we disagree on a lot of subjects,” Trump said. “We talk about crime. I’m very strong on crime. It seems like the press isn’t. It’s not so much the press, it’s the press plus the Democrats, because they’re almost one and the same. It’s the craziest thing.”

He went on: “There are great people in the press, too, I can name, but I don’t want to embarrass your show. We have some great people in the press, some very fair people, and people who are just on my side. But for the most part, it’s a very liberal or a very progressive, let’s use the word liberal, liberal press. But I was really happy to see the, I don’t know how long it will last, the relationship, the friendship, the spirit, after a very bad event took place.”

The Democratic Party and the media are not ‘one and the same’

There is so much to unpack here. For one thing, “on my side” is not the definition of a good journalist. A good journalist is on the side of truth, period. For another, the media and the Democratic Party are not “one and the same.”

But what’s also worth noting is that “60 Minutes” is at the root of much of Trump’s fight against free speech.

Before a merger it desperately sought, Paramount, which owns “60 Minutes,” paid Trump $16 million to settle a frivolous lawsuit he filed against the show. Trump applauded the hiring of Bari Weiss, a former New York Times columnist who left the paper complaining about liberal groupthink and then founded The Free Press, a digital publication often critical of the political left and “woke” policies and sensibilities, as editor-in-chief of CBS News, even though she had no TV experience.

Weiss reportedly sat at Trump’s table during a dinner party honoring Trump on Thursday ― a dinner hosted by Paramount Skydance, as it awaits regulatory approval for the deal. O’Donnell was at the dinner, too. Maybe this is how “60 Minutes” scored the quick turnaround interview Sunday. Maybe not.

That’s the problem with all of this ― it’s just impossible to know who to trust anymore, who to believe, how to know where lines are drawn. Trump’s attacks on the press, including calling O’Donnell a disgrace to her face (he is particularly nasty to women reporters), seem to be the price you pay for access.

Maybe that’s why, later, O’Donnell told Trump that “the White House Correspondents’ Association very much appreciates you going last night.” Sigh.

All that said, I’m not sure how O’Donnell expected Trump to react to her question about the accusations. It’s not like he was going to confess to crimes on national TV.

On the other hand, despite all of the swirling, confusing water under the bridge, despite her compliments after he disparaged her, good for her for asking. Tough questions, even in the face of wheeling and dealing and adversity, have never been more important.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Media commentary with a side of snark? Sign up for The Watchlist newsletter with Bill Goodykoontz.