While President Donald Trump and the first lady sat at dinner with roughly 2,500 guests at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday, a 31-year-old man from California had already made his way inside the Washington Hilton with multiple weapons and a plan.
Cole Thomas Allen, of Torrance, California, is the suspect now in custody following the shooting outside the hotel. He was stopped at a security checkpoint before he could reach the ballroom where the president and guests had gathered.
The Manifesto Sent Ten Minutes Before the Shooting
About ten minutes before Allen opened fire, he sent what has been described as an anti-Trump manifesto to members of his family. A New York Post report, citing a US official, revealed the document was later handed to police by a relative.
Allen signed the document with the name “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen.”
In the manifesto, Allen outlined his targets as Trump administration officials, ranked by seniority. He excluded FBI Director Kash Patel from the list.
“Administration officials (not including [FBI Director Kash] Patel): they are targets, prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest,” he wrote.
He also made clear he was prepared to go further if he felt it necessary, writing that most attendees were, in his view, complicit simply by choosing to be present.
“In order to minimise casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls). I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people chose to attend a speech by a paedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit), but I really hope it doesn’t come to that,” he wrote
“Turning the Other Cheek Is Complicity,” Allen Wrote
The document also laid out Allen’s reasoning behind the attack. He framed his actions not as aggression but as a response to what he described as the suffering of others.
“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,” he wrote. “Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behaviour; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
The document included repeated attacks on the US president and senior officials.
“I am no longer willing to permit a paedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” Allen wrote.
Allen claimed he had walked into the Washington Hilton carrying multiple weapons without being questioned by anyone.
“Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance. I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat,” he wrote.
He went on to criticise the focus of security personnel on those arriving on the night itself, rather than guests who had checked in earlier.
“The security at the event is all outside, focused on protestors and current arrivals, because apparently no one thought about what happens if someone checks in the day before. 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.”
Allen added, “Like, if I were an Iranian agent, instead of an American citizen, I could have brought a damn Ma Deuce in here, and no one would have noticed shit. Actually insane.”
It was Allen’s brother who first raised the alarm. According to the US official cited by The Post, he contacted the New London, Connecticut, police department after receiving the document.
The Secret Service also interviewed Allen’s sister, who lives in Rockville, Maryland. She reportedly told agents that Allen had a history of making politically radical remarks and had spoken of wanting to do “something” to address what he saw as the world’s problems.