The suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner incident sent a manifesto saying he planned to target Trump administration officials, “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” according to a copy obtained by CBS News.
Cole Allen, 31, wrote that law enforcement, hotel employees and guests were not his intended targets but that he would still attack them to get to administration officials, adding, “I really hope it doesn’t come to that.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Allen charged a security checkpoint outside the dinner armed with a shotgun, a handgun and knives. President Trump and other administration officials were quickly escorted out and the event was canceled.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News Allen’s brother, alarmed by an email sent to family members, called police in Connecticut Saturday night. Authorities said they found additional writings at Allen’s Torrance, California, home and in his 10th‑floor room at the Washington Hilton, where the dinner was being held.
In the emailed manifesto his tone was largely matter‑of‑fact and sometimes ironic: “Hello everybody! So I may have given a lot of people a surprise today.” He apologized to his parents for saying he had an interview without specifying it was for “Most Wanted,” and to colleagues and students for saying he had a personal emergency. He wrote that by the time anyone read the email he probably would need emergency care, referring to possible injuries as “self‑inflicted status.”
Allen said he planned the attack because he did not want the administration’s “crimes” to “coat [his] hands.” He did not name Trump or the dinner but said he intended to target officials “prioritized from highest‑ranking to lowest,” adding an exception: “not including Mr. Patel,” a reference to the FBI director who attended the event. He said he would avoid targeting Secret Service, Capitol Police or National Guard unless necessary, and added, “I hope they are wearing body armor.” A Secret Service officer who was shot was wearing a vest and was released from the hospital Sunday.
To “minimize casualties,” Allen wrote he intended to use buckshot rather than slugs because buckshot has “less penetration through walls.”
The manifesto included a series of hypothetical objections and Allen’s rebuttals. Facing the objection “As a half‑black, half‑white person, you shouldn’t be the one doing this,” his rebuttal read, “I don’t see anyone else picking up the slack.” Responding to the objection that as a Christian he should “turn the other cheek,” he wrote that turning the other cheek “is for when you yourself are oppressed,” and listed several anonymous hypothetical victims he said had experienced hardship, at times blaming the administration. He wrote he did not expect forgiveness and that, had he seen any other way to get close, he would have taken it.
He also criticized hotel and Secret Service security, writing, “PS … No damn security. Not in transport. Not in the hotel. Not in the event,” and saying that if he had been an Iranian agent he could have brought a machine gun (“Ma Deuce”) unnoticed. The Washington Hilton remained a functioning hotel with public spaces during the dinner; Secret Service protection covered the specific areas where the event occurred rather than the entire building.
After the attempt, Allen’s sister told investigators he often used radical rhetoric and sometimes spoke about doing “something” to fix perceived problems, federal law enforcement officials told CBS News. More than 2,500 people attended the gala celebrating the First Amendment. Mr. Trump had declined the dinner in prior years as president but attended this year and has said he wants to reschedule the event within the next 30 days.