Photo: Getty Images
Cole Allen, the gunman who opened fire during the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday (April 25) night, reportedly called himself the "Friendly Federal Assassin" and confirmed his intention to officials within President Donald Trump's administration in a manifesto, a U.S. official told the New York Post.
“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,” Allen wrote in the document, which his brother in Connecticut provided to police, according to the source. “I’m not a schoolkid blown up, or a child starved, or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
Allen wrote that his targets were “Administration officials (not including [FBI Director Kash] Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest" in the manifesto.
“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” Allen wrote, referring to Trump. “In order to minimize 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 pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Allen also reportedly mocked the "insane" lack of security at the Washington Hilton, which hosted the White House Correspondents' Dinner, claiming Iranian agents could have brought even more devastating firepower than he had during the incident and "no one would have noticed s**t."
“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. “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.”
"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 shit. Actually insane," he added.
Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn claimed that the shooter attempted to commit a "national tragedy" as the press was focused on the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
"Tonight, a coward attempted to create a national tragedy," Quinn said in a statement shared by the Secret Service. "He underestimated the protective capabilities of the U.S. Secret Service, and was stopped at first contact. The strength of our layered security posture was evident, with a myriad of countermeasures still ahead. Grateful for the brave men and women of the Secret Service and our valued Law Enforcement partners."
Allen, a teacher from Torrance, California, was identified by multiple sources as the man accused of rushing a security checkpoint with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives and opening fire just after 8:30 p.m. local time before being subdued at the Washington, D.C., event. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump made their grand entrance about 20 minutes prior to gunshots erupting.