President Donald Trump tore into CBS News correspondent Norah O'Donnell on Sunday night after she read alleged passages from the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting suspect's manifesto during a sit-down interview, calling the move "disgraceful" and telling her she should "be ashamed" of herself for airing the material on national television.
The exchange, reported by Fox News Digital, turned heated after O'Donnell quoted portions of the manifesto that alluded to a rapist and a pedophile, then asked the president directly: "Do you think he was referring to you?"
Trump did not hesitate. He told O'Donnell he had expected the question, and that it confirmed his view of the network.
"Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you're horrible people."
The suspect, 31-year-old Cole Allen of Torrance, California, was identified by authorities as the man behind the shooting that forced the cancellation of the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner. Authorities said Allen had prepared a manifesto outlining his intent and had shared anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on social media.
The president made clear he viewed O'Donnell's decision to read the manifesto on air as an attempt to smear him with the words of a man authorities described as violent and disturbed. He rejected the allegations contained in the document point by point.
"I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody. 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."
Trump then told O'Donnell that the network should never have broadcast those passages. His language was blunt, and he did not back down.
The president's broader point was sharp: a major news program chose to amplify the writings of a suspected shooter and then invited the president to respond to the accusations contained within them. That is not neutral journalism. That is editorial provocation dressed up as an interview question. Readers can judge for themselves whether O'Donnell was seeking clarity or seeking a reaction, but the network's history of contentious clashes with Trump suggests a pattern.
"You shouldn't be reading that on '60 Minutes.' You're a disgrace. But go ahead. Let's finish the interview."
O'Donnell interrupted to argue that she was quoting the alleged gunman's own words. Trump was unmoved.
Sunday's confrontation did not happen in a vacuum. Trump and "60 Minutes" have been at odds for years. His most recent appearance on the program came in November 2025, his first since October 2020, during his first presidential term.
That 2020 interview with correspondent Lesley Stahl became its own flashpoint. Trump accused Stahl of conducting a biased, "vicious attempted 'takeout' interview" and threatened to release the full unedited footage himself. Newsmax reported at the time that Trump tweeted he would provide "a first in television history full, unedited preview" of the exchange, accusing Stahl of "constant interruptions & anger." CBS aired a clip that showed a heated exchange, though the previewed material did not clearly support claims that the interview had been deceptively edited.
The dispute escalated further when Trump sued CBS News, alleging the network had deceptively edited an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. CBS News and its parent company Paramount ultimately paid Trump a $16 million settlement.
Trump referenced that settlement during an extended version of the November 2025 interview, telling O'Donnell directly that "60 Minutes" had been "forced to pay me a lot of money because they took [Harris'] answer out that was so bad." The comment was pointed, a reminder, delivered on the network's own air, that CBS had already conceded ground in a prior credibility fight with this president.
The relationship between Trump and the press corps covering the White House has long been adversarial. Tensions at the White House Correspondents' Dinner predate the shooting incident, but the cancellation of this year's event, and the circumstances surrounding it, added a grim new dimension.
Authorities identified Cole Allen as the shooting suspect and said he had prepared a manifesto outlining his intent. They also noted his social media history included anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric. Those details raise a straightforward question: if the suspect harbored hostility toward the president, why would a journalist read the suspect's manifesto to the president as though it were a set of accusations requiring a personal defense?
Trump framed it exactly that way. He acknowledged the manifesto existed. He called Allen "a sick person." But he drew a hard line at the idea that a network news correspondent should serve as a megaphone for a suspected criminal's writings.
The president also used the interview to draw a broader contrast between his approach to crime and the media's priorities. Trump told O'Donnell he was "very strong on crime" and suggested the press and the Democratic Party had become nearly indistinguishable on the issue. His own account of the shooting incident has added further detail to the public record of what happened that night.
"Look, for whatever reason, we disagree on a lot of subjects. 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."
In a notable shift in tone during the extended interview, Trump pointed to Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief taking over at CBS News. He offered a conciliatory remark that stood in contrast to the rest of the exchange.
"I think you have a great new leader, frankly, because the young woman that's leading your whole enterprise is a great, from what I know, I don't know her, but I hear she's a great person."
The comment suggested that Trump sees a possible reset under Weiss, or at least wants to leave the door open. Whether CBS News under new leadership will chart a different course remains to be seen. The network's track record, including the $16 million settlement and years of contentious interviews, gives Trump and his supporters reason to remain skeptical.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment. No response was noted in the reporting. Trump's willingness to publicly confront television personalities is well established, and this latest exchange fits a familiar pattern: the president does not let perceived media provocations go unanswered.
Several details remain unclear. The exact passages O'Donnell read from the manifesto were not specified in available reporting. The precise location of the interview was not disclosed. And it is not yet known whether the White House issued any formal response beyond the president's on-camera remarks.
What is clear is the editorial choice CBS made: to put a suspected shooter's manifesto in front of the president on camera and ask him to answer for its contents. That is not accountability journalism. That is platforming a criminal suspect's grievances and daring the target to respond.
If the press wants to understand why trust in media keeps falling, they might start by asking whether reading a manifesto to its intended victim on national television counts as news, or as something else entirely.
