The suspected gunman in the attack on the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday suggested President Donald Trump was one of his top targets, according to his alleged manifesto.
“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” Cole Thomas Allen, 31, wrote, according to the document published by the New York Post. The Associated Press has detailed a similar account of alleged writings sent by the suspect.
The sentence could be a reference to accusations that Trump bore sinister connections to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, sexual assault accusations against the president, and the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
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“Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” the document read. It was signed “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen.’”
Allen appeared to be motivated to carry out the shooting in part by religious reasons, according to the document. Allen accused Trump of failing to act in accordance with “Christian behavior” in the alleged manifesto. The suspect is expected to be charged in court on Monday after allegedly charging through security, shooting a Secret Service officer, and beginning to run toward the main room where Trump and other attendees were gathered at the Washington Hilton’s dinner.
“If anyone is curious is how doing something like feels: it’s awful. I want to throw up; I want to cry for all the things I wanted to do and never will, for all the people whose trust this betrays; I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done,” Allen allegedly wrote.
Trump said Sunday that the suspect appeared to be religiously motivated, referencing his manifesto.
“The guy is a sick guy when you read his manifesto. He hates Christians. That’s one thing for sure. He hates Christians, a hatred,” the president said during an interview on Fox News’s The Sunday Briefing. “He had a lot of hatred in his heart. … It was a religious thing.”
Allen was a member of Caltech’s Christian fellowship during his time at the prestigious school, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Allen appeared to have been targeting Trump and other administration officials during an NBC News interview on Sunday. He said investigators are still probing the situation.
“It does appear that he did in fact set out to target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche said.
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The writer in the alleged manifesto outlined a number of “objections” to what he planned to carry out and rebuttals in response to those objections.
“Objection 1: As a Christian, you should turn the other cheek. Rebuttal: 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. I’m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration,” the document read. “Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
“Thank you to my family, both personal and church, for your love over these 31 years,” the writer added.
The alleged manifesto also harped on what was described as a sweeping lack of security at the hotel where the dinner was held.
“Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance,” the document read. “I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat.
“Like, this level of incompetence is insane, and I very sincerely hope it’s corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again,” it continued. “Like, if I was an Iranian agent, instead of an American citizen, I could have brought a damn Ma Deuce in here and no one would have noticed s***,” he said, referring to a large machine gun.
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Blanche said he is unsure about how the suspect was let into the hotel with weapons. Following the incident, Trump said it proved that his new ballroom at the White House needs to be built.
“It’s really what you need. I mean, you can’t have a thousand rooms. It is a very big hotel on top of the ballroom. And people come down in the elevator and they’re right next to the ballroom,” Trump said. “Military and Secret Service have wanted [the ballroom] for many years, and I’m getting it built. And, the one good thing is that now everybody knows how badly needed it is.”