source : the age
Donald Trump became hostile during an interview on 60 Minutes when confronted with parts of the alleged shooter’s manifesto.
Interviewer Norah O’Donnell quoted from a document in which alleged gunman Cole Tomas Allen apparently wrote: “I’m no longer willing to permit a paedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
Trump responded: “I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would. You’re horrible people … He did write that. I’m not a rapist, I didn’t rape anybody.”
O’Donnell then asked: “Oh, you think he was referring to you?”
Trump continued: “Excuse me. I’m not a paedophile. You read that crap from some sick person?”
He went on to say that he had been falsely associated with the Jeffrey Epstein saga, claiming it had nothing to do with him.
“You should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things,” Trump said. “You shouldn’t be reading that on 60 Minutes, you’re a disgrace.”
Returning to news about Iran’s foreign minister, who has reportedly arrived in the Russian city of St Petersburg for talks with senior officials including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Al Jazeera reports that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his aim was for “close consultations between Tehran and Moscow on regional and international issues”.
The news organisation reported Araghchi said the meeting with the Russian president would be an opportunity to “discuss developments in the war”.
“I am confident that these consultations and coordination between the two countries in this regard will be of particular importance,” the foreign minister said, according to reports.
A manifesto allegedly written by the suspected gunman in the minutes before his rampage at the correspondents’ dinner suggests he was targeting a broad range of Trump administration officials and referred to himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin”.
Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old man from California, is due to appear in court on Monday (US time) after he allegedly charged through security armed with a handgun and a 12-gauge shotgun, injuring a Secret Service agent, at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night.
President Donald Trump confirmed the manifesto’s existence, and said it showed the suspect was a “sick” and “very troubled guy” who hated Christians.
“He had a lot of hatred in his heart for quite a while,” Trump told Fox News.
Read the full story from our North America correspondent here.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sent a text message to US President Donald Trump following this weekend’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
It is unclear what the message said, or whether it received a reply from the president.
The two leaders have spoken several times over the phone since Trump’s re-election in 2024, and met in person in October of last year. News of the message from Albanese to Trump was originally reported in The Nightly, and was later confirmed by the prime minister’s office.
One year ago today, during an election debate between Albanese and then-opposition leader Peter Dutton, the prime minister said he did not have Trump’s phone number and didn’t believe the leader had a mobile phone. At the time, Albanese said it was rare for world leaders to text each other.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin, after meetings in Pakistan and Oman.
Iranian state media said Araghchi discussed security in the Strait of Hormuz with Omani leader Haitham bin Tariq al-Said and called for a regional security framework free of outside interference.
Araghchi said on X that the focus of his Oman talks “included ways to ensure safe transit that is to benefit of all dear neighbours and the world.”
Iran’s envoy in Russia, Kazem Jalali, said in a post on X that Araghchi would meet with Putin “in continuation of the diplomatic jihad to advance the country’s interests and amid external threats.”
Iran has reportedly presented a new proposal to the US on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, amid a stalemate in talks.
But the deal would postpone discussions over Iran’s nuclear program, which the US demands be suspended. Reaching a deal on the strait reopening could leave the US with little leverage in future talks, Axios reported.
The Iranian leadership has not formed a consensus about how to address the US demands for long-term suspension of uranium enrichment and the removal of enriched uranium from the country.
Meanwhile, Trump scrapped a visit to Islamabad from his envoys, saying Iran “can call us”.
Trump is expected to hold a meeting on Iran with his top national security and foreign policy team soon.
Pakistan’s leaders are seeking to revive peace talks between the US and Iran after Trump cancelled plans for his top envoys to travel to Islamabad for negotiations.
Pakistan-led mediators are working to bridge significant gaps between the US and Iran, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter.
Iran still insists on ending the US blockade on its ports before launching a new round of talks with the Trump administration, the official said.
Trump said he told his top envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner not to travel to Pakistan at the weekend to negotiate with Iran.
Two of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most formidable political rivals say they are joining forces in a bid to oust his coalition government in the election expected later this year.
The former prime ministers – right-wing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid – issued statements announcing the merger of their parties, Bennett 2026 and There is a Future.
“We are standing here together for the sake of our children. The State of Israel must change direction,” Lapid said standing alongside Bennett at a joint news conference.
Bennett said the new party would be called Together, and he would be its leader. “After 30 years it is time to part with Netanyahu and open a new chapter for Israel,” he said.
Donald Trump became hostile during an interview on 60 Minutes when confronted with parts of the alleged shooter’s manifesto.
Interviewer Norah O’Donnell quoted from a document in which alleged gunman Cole Tomas Allen apparently wrote: “I’m no longer willing to permit a paedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
Trump responded: “I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would. You’re horrible people … He did write that. I’m not a rapist, I didn’t rape anybody.”
O’Donnell then asked: “Oh, you think he was referring to you?”
Donald Trump, who was rushed from the Washington Hilton ballroom by Secret Service agents as gunshots rang out, said he “wanted to see what was going on”.
“I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for them,” he told the US version of 60 Minutes in a sit-down interview going to air this morning.
The interview with CBS News senior correspondent Norah O’Donnell was recorded to go to air at 7pm on Sunday (9am today AEST).
O’Donnell was also at the White House Correspondents’ dinner, which Trump was attending for the first time as president. Since 2017, he had skipped the dinner, the first president to do so. Even Ronald Reagan, who did not attend the dinner in 1981 as he recovered from an attempted assassination outside the same hotel, called in to make a joke about it.
The closest Australian equivalent to the US correspondents’ dinner is the Midwinter Ball, held by the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery. The prime minister’s speech at the event has been publicly broadcast since 2019. The change came after a recording of then-PM Malcolm Turnbull performing an “affectionately light-hearted” impersonation of Trump at the 2017 ball leaked.
Former US president Barack Obama has called on Americans to “reject the idea that violence has any place in our democracy”.
Obama said the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was also a sobering reminder of the courage and sacrifice displayed by Secret Service agents, who are tasked with protecting political leaders, their families, and visiting leaders.
Secret Service agents also protect former presidents.
Obama, elected in 2008, re-elected in 2012, and succeeded by US President Donald Trump when he was first elected in 2016, said he was “grateful to them – and thankful that the agent who was shot is going to be okay”.
The Democrat addressed the annual correspondents’ dinner eight times during his terms, usually with a heavy dose of comedy.
