White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter’s chilling manifesto revealed: Gunman called himself ‘The Friendly Federal Assassin’ and named high-ranking targets just minutes before opening fire

The gunman who opened fire outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner called himself a ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ in a chilling manifesto he wrote before the attack.

Cole Allen, 31, sent the chilling anti-Trump text to family members just 10 minutes before opening fire at the Washington hotel where the luxury press gala was held Saturday night.

A US official said the distressing letter was given to police by a relative.

According to the New York Post, Allen’s manifesto read: ‘Turning the other cheek is for times when you’re under pressure. I am not someone who was raped in a detention camp. I am not a fisherman who was executed without trial.

‘I am not a blown-up schoolboy or a starving child or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. It is not Christian behavior to turn the other cheek when *someone else* is under pressure; It means being a party to the crimes of the oppressor.

‘To minimize damage, I will use lead instead of slug (less penetration through walls).

‘If it were absolutely necessary, I’d still call most people here to achieve the objectives (based on the fact that most people *choose* to attend the conversation of a pedophile, rapist and traitor and are therefore complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to this.’

His targets included (but did not include) administrative officials [FBI Director Kash] Patel): These are the objectives prioritized from highest to lowest.’

Allen wrote, allegedly referring to the president: ‘I will no longer allow a pedophile, rapist and traitor to cover my hands with his crimes.’

Harrowing security footage shows the moment gunman Cole Tomas Allen charged past security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

An agent is seen drawing his gun and shouting after gunshots are heard at dinner

Guests attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner were told to lie down on the floor after shots were fired outside the ballroom.

Donald Trump spoke Sunday morning after a chaotic night at dinner.

He told Fox that the attacker “had a lot of hatred in his heart” and that the attacker’s motivation for the attack was religion.

The President said this morning: ‘He had a lot of hatred in his heart for a long time.’

He added that the manifesto was a ‘religious thing’. It was strongly anti-Christian.’

‘He’s got some big problems for the rest of his life, but this is a very, very bad, very bad situation,’ the President continued.

Cole Allen, a teacher from Torrance, California, had a manifesto and his brothers knew he had firearms and were worried about him.

Chilling security cameras captured the moment a gun-toting Allen charged past security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night.

In the video posted by President Donald Trump on Truth Social, Allen was seen wearing all black as he ran into the Washington Hilton hotel with a gun on Saturday evening.

Just moments before he ran, security guards were seen standing in the hallway, but as soon as he sped past, they immediately reacted and pulled out their firearms.

Cole Tomas Allen, 31, is thought to have targeted members of the Trump administration when he entered the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night. He was seen after he was laid on the ground and taken into custody.

Shattered glass lies on a staircase near the ballroom of the Washington Hilton hotel, where a shooting occurred last night, April 26, 2026, at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, DC.

A woman is arrested as members of the U.S. Secret Service and local police work to contain the scene outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner during a shooting at the Washington Hilton on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington, DC.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is escorted out of the chamber by members of the Secret Service

Police discovered that the suspect had several weapons on him, including a shotgun, a pistol and several knives.

President Trump shared a striking image shortly after the shooting showing the suspect shirtless and lying face down on the carpet.

Law enforcement confirmed he was not shot while he was stopped, but he was later taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Allen was a guest of the Hilton hotel where the event took place.

Surveillance video shows the suspect running through a security checkpoint and trying to reach the door of the ballroom where the president, along with top cabinet members and thousands of journalists, was gathered.

President Donald Trump takes questions from the media during a news conference at the White House following a shooting incident during the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner in Washington, DC, USA, April 25, 2026

The Allen family is seen with Allen, second from right, his brother Gabriel, mother Kathy, father, Thomas, and sisters Stephanie and Avriana.

FBI tactical agents leave in a vehicle after entering a home believed to be connected to the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner attack on April 26, 2026 in Torrance, California

Evidence found on Allen’s electronic devices and writings points to the theory that he intended to target members of the administration who attended the dinner.

Family members told law enforcement that Allen had sent them some of his disturbing texts before the attack, prompting one of them to alert police. The articles did not specifically mention Saturday’s dinner.

Another family member also told investigators that Allen made radical statements and often talked about his plans to do “something” to solve problems in today’s world.

The family added that Allen regularly visited the shooting range to practice with his guns. A senior US official told CBS News that the suspected gunman was part of a group called The Wide Awakes and participated in the No Kings protest in California.