Trump: Assassination Attempt #3

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Trump said on Saturday night he initially thought that the sound of a gunman charging a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was a tray falling, in his first remarks about what was going through his mind as the incident unfolded.

“Actually, it was totally shocking to me, and that never changes,” Trump said, appearing to refer to the assassination attempt against him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a second incident on his golf course in Florida during the 2024 presidential campaign.

“I heard a noise, and sort of thought it was a tray. I thought it was a tray going down many times,” he said.

“There was a gun and some people really understood that quite quickly. Other people didn’t. I was watching to see what was happening, probably should have gotten down a little faster.

“Melania was very cognizant, I think, of what happened,” Trump said of his wife, who has been among the members of his family most concerned about security even before Trump faced assassination attempts.

“I think she knew immediately. She was saying ‘it’s a bad noise.”

The US president’s description of his reaction to the episode came at a hastily arranged news conference in the briefing room at the White House, where he had been rushed back by motorcade ahead of a number of other senior cabinet officials who had attended the dinner.

Asked why he thought he keeps being the target of assassination attempts, Trump compared himself to Abraham Lincoln, and said:

“The people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that they go after. They don’t go after the ones that don’t do much, because they like it that way.”

To the side of the room stood his wife, Melania Trump, Rubio, Hegseth, and the White House press secretary Leavitt.
Trump’s longtime aide Dan Scavino squeezed into the briefing room behind them.

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Trump had emerged into the briefing room with his brow furrowed and appeared to pause at the threshold, as if still contemplating what had transpired at the dinner, before opening his remarks by ticking through updates on the gunman.

“He was a sick person, a very sick person,” Trump said. “He was running full blast, and they got him before he got any further. I was very far away, he wasn’t anywhere close to breaching the doors of the ballroom. My impression is he was a lone wolf wack job.”

He said it was too early to know whether the gunman had political motivations or if he was spurred by the US’s war against Iran, but said the man – pictured shirtless and on the ground in a post Trump sent on social media – was from California and appeared to be working alone.

Trump said the gunman fired on a US Secret Service agent, who was saved by his bulletproof vest. He said he thought law enforcement were going to the gunman’s apartment as he offered general praise for the agency, saying he thought they did a better job than at the Butler rally.

When the incident unfolded, Trump had been seated on the high table inside the ballroom at the Washington DC Hilton hotel, where the dinner has been held for decades, in conversation with his wife and the president of the correspondents’ association, the CBS News journalist Weijia Jiang.

As the sound of gunfire rang out, US Secret Service agents rushed to cover the president’s head and pushed them out of the ballroom.

As other agents waded through the banquet tables to extract other cabinet officials, the gunman was apprehended in the lobby area, outside the room.

Trump also suggested that he might not have run for president if Rubio, his 2016 presidential campaign rival who is now his secretary of state and national security adviser, had warned him about the potential of assassination attempts.

“It’s a dangerous profession,” Trump joked. “Nobody told me this was such a dangerous thing. If Marco would have told me, maybe I wouldn’t have run. I’ll take a pass.”

Still, he added: “It’s a dangerous profession but I don’t view it that way. I’m here to do a job.”

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Niger’s Coup Regime Is Under Attack — From Within


Niger has also moved closer to Mali and Burkina Faso, with which it withdrew from ECOWAS and established the Alliance of Sahel States, presented as a framework for political and military cooperation based on the sovereignty of the three countries.

This new geopolitical orientation has been accompanied by a drive to strengthen state control over the country’s strategic resources. The uranium sector occupies a particularly important place in this policy. Relations between Niamey and the French nuclear group Orano have deteriorated sharply, while Niger’s authorities are seeking to expand state control over mining activities.

But despite this break with its former alliances, the main problem that the Tiani regime claimed it had come to address remains: security.

Niger continues to face a serious jihadist threat, particularly in the regions of Tillabéri, Tahoua and Diffa, as well as along its borders with Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. Groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State remain active across the region and continue to carry out attacks against security forces and civilians.

The fact that clashes this time involved military personnel in the heart of the capital gives the incident a particular significance. Until now, the regime had portrayed its main threats as coming from outside: jihadist groups, diplomatic pressure, regional sanctions and tensions with its former international partners.

The attempted uprising on August 29 raises another, even more sensitive question: the cohesion of Niger’s armed forces themselves.

This is a crucial issue for a regime whose power rests primarily on the military. When divisions emerge within the armed forces, the problem goes far beyond a simple mutiny. It can quickly become a threat to the stability of the regime itself.

For now, there is no evidence that this attempted uprising represents a broader movement within Niger’s armed forces. The authorities say the situation is “under control” and that the soldiers involved have been neutralized or arrested. But the exact circumstances of the operation, how extensively it was planned, and whether other military units were involved remain key questions.

The paradox is hard to ignore: a government that came to power through a coup must now prove that it can prevent another coup from emerging from within the military itself.

The coming hours and days will therefore be critical. Beyond restoring order in Niamey, attention will need to focus on reactions within the armed forces, any arrests, possible changes in the chain of command, and how the regime publicly explains what happened.

Because the real question facing Niger now is not simply who controlled the streets of Niamey that night. It is whether General Abdourahamane Tiani still has unquestioned authority over the military that forms the main pillar of his power.

Three years after the overthrow of Mohamed Bazoum, Niger is once again facing a power struggle at the heart of its own political system.

And for a regime born out of a coup, there may be no more troubling signal than the emergence, from within the military itself, of those who could be preparing to seize power themselves.

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