Donald Trump addressed questions about the authenticity of the latest attempt on his life.

On Sunday (April 26), the 79-year-old president sat down for a televised interview on 60 Minutes for CBS News to address the attempted shooting that took place the day prior during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton.

During his conversation with Norah O’Donnell, Trump answered questions about why it took him longer than the vice president to evacuate the ballroom. He also weighed in on growing conspiracy theories that the incident was a hoax.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I hesitate to ask you about this but as you know, these conspiracy theories out there on the left and the right that– that the event was staged or that it didn’t happen,” O’Donnell said, per an official transcript of the interview.

The president seemed surprised by the conspiracy theories, asking if they were saying that “last night didn’t happen.”

“Yeah, that it was… Because it was your first time there, or that Butler didn’t happen. These conspiracy theories that are gaining traction,” she replied as the president spoke over her.

He said, “Wow, I know. And October the 7th didn’t happen, and World War II didn’t happen, and the Holocaust didn’t happen, and many things didn’t happen. Yeah, no, I hear it. I don’t know. I think they’re more sick than they are con people, but there’s a lot of con in it too. I haven’t heard that last night didn’t happen. Well, usually it takes a little bit longer. Usually they wait about two or three months to start saying that.”

O’Donnell stressed that she didn’t “peddle in” conspiracy theories but said, “I’m wondering where this is coming from.”

“I think that’d be a tough sell,” he said, prompting her to agree.

Elsewhere in the interview, he was asked why there have been multiple attempts on his life, including a 2024 incident in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear.

“So I’ve said it, and I’ve said it numerous times. And I actually… Because of the position I’m in, I’ve done quite a bit of research into the word ‘assassination.’ Terrible word. And they go after consequential presidents. They go after… presidents that do things,” he said.

Trump added, “If you look at what I’ve done, we’ve turned this country around. We’ve taken a country that was actually a dead country, it was dying very rapidly, and it’s the hottest country anywhere in the world. We had a skirmish, a war, whatever you wanna call it, with Venezuela.”

“We won that very decisively, and we now have a great relationship with Venezuela. It’s been a very profitable relationship. And we’re in Iran right now. Other presidents should’ve done it, but they never chose to do it. They should have. They made a terrible mistake by not doing it,” Trump said. “It’s tougher now than it would’ve been ten years ago or even five years ago because… you know, they had thousands and thousands of missiles and everything else, and we didn’t do the B-2 bomber attack. That alone was a big deal. The killing of Soleimani, which I did in my first term, was a big deal.”

He said, “But when you’re a consequential… when you do things, a lotta things, and things that work out very well for our country… Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. McKinley was assassinated. McKinley made the country very rich. People don’t realize that. Then Teddy Roosevelt went out and spent the money that was made by McKinley, but he was very consequential, actually, but he was assassinated. So…”

The alleged attacker that stormed the ballroom at the hotel during the dinner over the weekend has been identified.

One of Trump‘s former allies has also accused him of “using” the alleged attack for nefarious reasons.