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Allen reportedly referred to himself as a “friendly federal assassin” and accused Trump of numerous crimes in language that many observers said sounded like straight Democrat talking points.
“Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial,” Cole Allen wrote in the manifesto.
He continued:
“I’m not a schoolkid blown up, or a child starved, or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
Allen then directly targeted President Trump, writing:
“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
Rather than simply report the facts of the violent incident, O’Donnell confronted Trump during their sit-down interview by reading portions of the disturbing manifesto aloud.
Trump immediately saw where the conversation was headed and did not hold back.
“I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you’re horrible people. Horrible people,” Trump said to O’Donnell. “Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”
Instead of backing off, O’Donnell pressed further in what many viewers saw as an attempt to bait the president.
“Oh, do you think he was referring to you?” she asked.
Trump answered directly and decisively.
“I’m not a pedophile.”
The president then appeared to reference years of media-driven attempts to tie him to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein despite no criminal findings against him.
“You read that crap from some sick person. I got associated with stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated,” Trump said.
As the interview grew more heated, Trump blasted O’Donnell for using a national broadcast to amplify the words of an accused gunman rather than condemn the attack itself.
“You should be ashamed of yourself for reading that, because I’m not any of those things,” Trump said. “Excuse me! Excuse me! You shouldn’t be reading that on ‘60 Minutes.’ You’re a disgrace, but go ahead, let’s finish the interview.”
WATCH:
The moment instantly drew attention online, with many conservatives accusing CBS of giving a platform to the rhetoric of a violent extremist while attempting to smear Trump in the process.
Supporters also pointed out the disturbing trend of media figures repeating the claims of politically motivated attackers while downplaying the dangerous climate created by years of nonstop demonization.
For many Americans, the bigger question is not Trump’s fiery response—but why a legacy news program believed it was appropriate to broadcast the words of an accused would-be assassin in the first place.
