Trump says multiple assassination attempts on him are because he is 'very impactful'

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump said the reason he keeps being targeted is that he's “impactful.”

On Saturday evening, April 25, panic broke out at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, when a 31-year-old man identified as Cole Tomas Allen (a teacher and video game developer from Torrance, California) stormed toward a Secret Service checkpoint. 

He was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives, and made his way into the hotel lobby near the main screening area just outside the ballroom where Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Cabinet officials, lawmakers, and hundreds of journalists were gathered.

At around 8.36 pm EDT, Allen tried to breach security and fired at least one shot, hitting a law enforcement officer in a bullet-resistant vest. The officer escaped serious injury and is expected to fully recover. Secret Service agents and other officers quickly tackled and subdued Allen before he could get any further, without him sustaining any gunshot wounds.

Roughly two hours later, Trump addressed reporters back at the White House briefing room.

Trump addresses spate of assassination attempts

Fox News senior correspondent Peter Doocy pointed to a New York Post report claiming the suspect assembled a weapon on-site at the hotel.

“President Trump, there’s a report from the New York Post that this assailant assembled his weapon somewhere on-site at the hotel," he said, before asking directly, "What do you think about that, and I ask, respectfully, why do you think this keeps happening to you?"

Trump responded, "Well, you know, I’ve studied assassinations and I must tell you the most impactful people, the people that do the most, you take a look at the people — Abraham Lincoln — I mean, you go through the people that have gone through this where they got ’em, but the people that do the most and the people that make the biggest impact are the ones that they go after."

"They don’t go after the ones that don’t do much because they like it that way," he continued. "And when you look at the people, whether it was an attempt for a successful attempt, they were very impactful people. Just take a look at the names here. The big names, and I hate to say I’m honored by that, but I’ve done a lot. We’ve done a lot. We have taken this country, and we were a laughing stock for years, and now we are the hottest country in the world. We’ve changed this country, and there are a lot of people that are not happy about that. So I think that’s the answer, Peter."

No plans to slow down

Doocy also raised concerns about security going forward, especially after previous incidents.

"And after Butler, your team for a while rethought outdoor events...Do you think you now need to rethink indoor events?" he asked.

Trump brushed that off quickly.

"No, well then you just don’t do events. Nah, I can’t do that," he said. "It is what it is and we have to do it. The room was very secure. You know, he charged from 50 yards away, so he was very far away from the room."

"And what did you think when you saw the video of how fast he was running?" Doocy asked.

Trump gave credit where he felt it was due.

"He was moving. He was really moving," the President said. "And the reaction time was great. Boy, those guys they had their guns drawn later literally by the time he was there they were shooting. I thought they were very impressive. I thought they were very impressive, and if I didn’t I would let you know. I would not stand for that. Nah, I thought they were very impressive."