By Jana Winter, Steve Holland and Steve Gorman
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the suspect accused of trying to attack administration officials at a black-tie gala on Saturday night was a “pretty sick guy” who had been flagged to law enforcement by family members.
Trump said in TV interviews that the suspect, whom an official identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, had posted what Trump described as an “anti-Christian” manifesto.
“He was a Christian, believer, and then he became an anti-Christian, and he had a lot of change,” Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” program. “He was probably a pretty sick guy.”
In the manifesto, Allen calls himself the “Friendly Federal Assassin” and said he planned to attack Trump administration officials, prioritizing them from highest-ranking to lowest but excluding FBI Director Kash Patel, a law enforcement official told Reuters. Allen cited Christian theology as he said he was trying to protect those harmed by the administration’s policies.
“Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes,” the manifesto read, according to the official.
The manifesto, which was sent to members of Allen’s family shortly before the attack, mocked the “insane” lack of security at the Washington Hilton, where the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was held, the official added. Allen was arrested at the scene.
“Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance,” the manifesto’s author reportedly wrote. “I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat.”
The chaotic events raised fresh questions about the security of top U.S. officials, many of whom were gathered in the hotel’s expansive ballroom. Trump seized on the attention brought by the incident to promote his planned White House ballroom as a safer venue for such events.
“This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The suspect traveled by Amtrak train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington, checking into the Hilton on Friday, acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on multiple Sunday talk shows, adding that Trump and top members of his administration were the likely targets. Train passengers in the United States are not required to pass through airport-style metal detectors.
Amtrak said it is cooperating with the investigation.
POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Officials have said the suspect fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a security checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel before being tackled and arrested.
Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Cabinet officials were rushed out as the incident unfolded. The Secret Service agent who was shot escaped serious injury because the bullet struck his protective vest, Trump said.
Trump, who had boycotted the media gala in the past, has requested that the dinner be rescheduled within 30 days. White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang of CBS said the group’s board would determine their next steps.
The suspect will be charged in federal court on Monday with assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer, Blanche said, adding he did not know if there was an Iran connection to the attack. Further federal indictments will be coming later, Blanche said.
Saturday’s incident was another reminder of a rising tide of political violence in the United States in recent years. Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead at a rally last September, just months after the June 2025 slaying of Democratic Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband and the wounding of a Minnesota state senator.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the days following Kirk’s murder found Americans believe increasingly harsh rhetoric surrounding politics is encouraging violence in the U.S.
A White House official said law enforcement officials who interviewed Allen’s sister were told he had a tendency to make radical statements, had attended an anti-Trump “No Kings” protest and referred to a plan to do “something” to fix issues with today’s world.
Trump suggested the protest might have spurred the suspect to action. “Part of the reason you have people like that is you have people doing No Kings,” he told CBS. “I’m not a king.”
Around the world, leaders condemned the attack and expressed relief that Trump and all present were safe.
A planned U.S. visit by King Charles of Britain scheduled to start on Monday will proceed, Trump and British officials said.
Little was immediately known about the alleged shooter’s background, but social media posts indicated he had worked at C2 Education, a national private test preparation and tutoring service. C2 Education said in a statement that it was cooperating with law enforcement investigators.
Washington Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives.
Allen had purchased two handguns and a shotgun and stored them at his parents’ home, the White House official said.
The suspect lived with his parents in a two-story house on a tree-lined street with picket fences and craftsman-style homes in the historic district of Torrance, a seaside town in the South Bay area of greater Los Angeles.
Neighbors in the middle-class neighborhood on Sunday said they were only casually acquainted with him and his parents, with most saying they never spoke to him beyond a brief hello or waving to them as they gave Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters.
(Additional reporting by Bo Erikson, Kanishka Singh, David Shepardson, Tim Reid, Steve Gorman, Jasper Ward, Gram Slattery, Andrea Shalal and Katharine Jackson in Washington, Nichola Groom in Los Angeles and Mike Spector in New York; Writing by David Lawder, Tim Reid and Andy Sullivan; Editing by William Mallard, Sergio Non, Ross Colvin, Caitlin Webber, Bill Berkrot, Deepa Babington and Nick Zieminski)
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