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President Donald Trump conceded that he may have complicated the Secret Service’s evacuation process after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night.
In a preview for a “60 Minutes” interview airing Sunday night, Trump described to CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell what was going on in his head during the quick process of Secret Service agents flanking him and ushering him and other administration officials out of the event after shots were fired.
O’Donnell pointed out that it took 10 seconds for an agent to reach him and another 20 seconds before he was taken out of the building. Trump admitted that some of the hesitation came from his desire to know what was happening.
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“Well, what happened is it was a little bit me,” Trump said. “I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for them. 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 different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time. And I was surrounded by great people. And I probably made them act a little bit more slow. They said, ‘Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let me see. Wait a minute.'”
Trump said that he and first lady Melania Trump were eventually told to get down and “pretty much” began crawling out of the room.
“I was standing up and then turned around the opposite direction and started pretty much walking out pretty tall, a little bent over because I, you know, I’m not looking to be standing too tall but I was walking out, 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,” Trump said.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Secret Service for comment.
Trump, his wife and several administration officials were quickly evacuated out of the dinner, abruptly ending the event. In a press conference shortly after the shooting, Trump confirmed that the shooter was in custody and that he has requested the White House Correspondents’ Association to reschedule the dinner some time within the next 30 days.
Cole Allen, a 31-year-old computer scientist from Torrance, California, was identified as the suspect accused of opening fire at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
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During a news conference Saturday night, authorities said Allen was armed with multiple weapons when he rushed a Secret Service checkpoint. He then allegedly opened fire on a Secret Service officer, who was taken to the hospital after being shot in his ballistic vest. The officer was then released from the hospital on Sunday.
Fox News confirmed with law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation that the suspect was targeting Trump administration officials.
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Fox News’ Max Bacall contributed to this report.
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