President Donald Trump said he did not fall while being evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after a shooting disrupted the event on April 25, instead describing his movements as a deliberate effort to understand the situation as it unfolded. Speaking in an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes on April 26, Trump addressed video footage that appeared to show him going down amid a rapid Secret Service response.
The incident occurred when a gunman rushed a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton, prompting agents to quickly secure the president, first lady, and other officials. Law enforcement later said the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Cole Allen, was armed with multiple weapons and was subdued after exchanging gunfire with authorities. A Secret Service agent was injured but protected by a bulletproof vest, and officials said the suspect was believed to have been targeting members of the administration.
During the interview, Trump was asked about footage showing what appeared to be a chaotic evacuation. He responded, “Well, what happened is it was a little bit me. I wanted to see what was happening and I wasn’t making it that easy for him. 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 slowly. I said, ‘Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let me see. Wait a minute.’ And so you know I’m telling guys just at that moment where it looks like you go sort of down with the service.”
Pressed on whether he had been told to get down, Trump described a sequence in which he initially resisted lowering himself before complying with agents’ instructions. “I was standing up pretty much. 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’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.”
Video from the ballroom shows agents moving quickly to form a protective perimeter as guests took cover, with Trump and first lady Melania Trump escorted off the stage. While the footage has been interpreted by some viewers as showing the president falling, Trump maintained that he remained in control of his movements and only went to the floor after being directed to do so in order to reduce exposure to potential danger.