Media: Man who shot at Trump event sent manifesto to his family before attack, calling himself a “friendly federal killer”

Cole Thomas Allen, who opened fire at a White House Correspondentsʼ Association dinner with Donald Trump, sent a manifesto to his family ten minutes before the incident. In the text, Allen calls himself a "friendly federal assassin".

The manifesto was obtained by journalists from The New York Post. They, citing an American official, wrote that his brother had reported the manifesto to the police.

Allen writes that he is a US citizen, and everything the US government does reflects on him. He no longer wants to "let a pedophile, rapist, and traitor sully" his hands with his crimes.

The targets were Trump administration officials, with the exception of FBI Director Kesha Patel. The shooter calls Secret Service agents “targets only out of necessity” and hopes they are wearing body armor. He calls other law enforcement officers “not targets if possible”, and everyone else “not targets at all.”

He also writes that he will use buckshot, not bullets, to prevent unnecessary casualties (buckshot has a lower penetration capacity than walls). However, if absolutely necessary, he would “go through everyone”, because those who decided to attend the performance of “a pedophile, rapist, and traitor” are accomplices.

"The United States of America is governed by the law, not by one or a few individuals. Since elected officials and judges do not follow the law, no one is obligated to obey them in anything that has been ordered illegally," he writes.

Allen also mocks the incompetence of the Secret Service. He walked into a hotel with a bunch of weapons and not a single person thought he was a threat, while the security was busy with protesters outside. He writes that if he were an Iranian agent, he could have brought a machine gun and no one would have noticed, and he hopes that the incompetence of the Secret Service will be corrected by the time the United States gets competent leadership.

• This is the third time since 2024 that Trump has been threatened by an assailant who was in close proximity to him. In July 2024, he was shot at during a campaign rally in Butler, and in September of that year, a shooting occurred near Trumpʼs golf club in Florida.

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