President Donald Trump was asked point-blank why people keep trying to kill him after a gunman opened fire near the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday.
“Respectfully, why do you think this keeps happening to you?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked.
Trump didn’t push back on the premise, instead framing the repeated threats as a sign of his own significance.
“I’ve studied assassinations, and I must tell you, the most impactful people, the people that do the most… Abraham Lincoln… they’re the ones that they go after,” he answered.
“Just take a look at the names—they’re the big names—and I hate to say I’m honored by that, but I’ve done a lot.”
The remarks came just over an hour after panic broke out at the Washington Hilton, where a suspect opened fire steps from the ballroom hosting the annual dinner.
A volunteer told The New York Post the suspect appeared to assemble a “long” weapon in a lightly monitored area near a terrace-level entrance before moving toward the main space.
The makeshift room, which the volunteer said was used to store bar carts, had “no security” at the time.
Interim D.C. police chief Jeffery W. Carroll said the man charged a Secret Service checkpoint armed with a shotgun, handgun, and multiple knives before exchanging gunfire with officers.
Trump shared security footage of the attack on social media, calling the suspect a “whack job.”
The shooting suspect was later identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old California teacher, two law enforcement officials told the Associated Press. Authorities believe the man acted alone and are still working to determine whether Trump himself was the intended target.
Asked whether the repeated threats would change how he approaches the presidency, Trump said he’s pressing ahead regardless.
“It comes with the territory, and if you want to do a great job, I really believe that,” he said.
“We’re going to continue to do a great job—that’s all I can do.”
The president used the near-assassination to double-down on the need for his controversial $400 million ballroom.
“We looked at all of the conditions that took place tonight, and I will say, you know, it’s not a particularly secure building,” Trump told reporters at a press briefing held shortly after he was evacuated from the hotel’s ballroom.
“This is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House. It’s actually a larger room and it’s much more secure. It’s got gunproof, it’s bulletproof glass,” he added.
