Fox News’s senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy directly asked President Donald Trump, “Why do you think this keeps happening to you?” after a gunman opened fire on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night.

As Trump held the presser in the White House briefing room nearly two hours after the chaotic scene played out in the Washington Hilton Hotel ballroom, Doocy asked about a New York Post report that the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, assembled a rifle somewhere on the Hilton premises.

He then flat-out asked the president, “Why do you think this keeps happening to you?”

Trump has been the target of multiple assassination attempts, including a gunshot that struck his ear during a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, PA.

Trump answered: “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.”

Read the full exchange below:

PETER DOOCY: President Trump, there’s a report from The New York Post that this assailant assembled his weapon somewhere on-site at the hotel. What do you think about that, and I ask, respectfully, why do you think this keeps happening to you?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: 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. 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 laughingstock for years and now we are the hottest country in the world. We’ve changed this country, and there are lot of people that are not happy about that. So I think that’s the answer, Peter.

DOOCY: And after Butler, your team for a while rethought outdoor events.

TRUMP: Yeah.

DOOCY: Do you think you now need to rethink indoor events?

TRUMP: No, well then you just don’t do events. Nah, I can’t do that. 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.

DOOCY: And what did you think when you saw the video of how fast he was running.

TRUMP: He was moving. He was really moving. 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.

Watch above via Fox News.

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