The suspect arrested for the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner allegedly made an anti-Trump manifesto which he sent out to his family member minutes before opening fire at the gala venue.
According to the New York Post, the manifesto stated that he would only target officials from the US President Donald Trump-led administration.
“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” gunman Cole Allen allegedly wrote in the manifesto, released by the NY Post. The manifesto’s sentence-formation did not expressly say that Trump was the shooter was referring to with those words.
Trump has, however, faced allegations about his connections with the late Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted pedophile who died by suicide in jail in 2019. The ‘Epstein files’ related to his conduct and crimes were released recently, and Trump is mentioned in them as being his guest at times.
HT has not independently verified the transcript of the alleged manifesto.
Ahead of the gala, photos of President Trump along with Epstein were projected onto the facade if the Washington Hilton, the hotel where the dinner later took place. A user posted the video of the incident on X. “In honor of White House Correspondents Weekend, this video message highlighting Trump’s relationship with Epstein is being displayed on the side of the building where Trump will attend the dinner,” the caption for the video read.
It was not clear if this incident was directly related to the shooting.
What manifesto said: Report
In the manifesto, Allen said “all (Trump) administration officials, not including Mr Patel…are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.” He added that the Secret Service would be targets “only if necessary” and would be “incapacitated on-lethally if possible.”
He further stated in the manifesto that hotel security, the Capitol Police, National Guard, hotel employees and guests were “not targets at all”, according to the New York Post. Allen also spoke about the shotgun shells, saying he would use “buckshot rather than slugs” to minimise casualties.