D.C. gunman's manifesto entered in DOJ case against him

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News on Apr 27, 2026

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Prosecutors charging Cole Tomas Allen with attempting to shoot Trump administration officials at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner included a manifesto the alleged gunman sent to acquaintances prior to the attack in a criminal complaint against the suspect.

The missive published by TMZ begins with Allen apologizing to family members, colleagues and nearly everyone he was in contact with for misleading them about his itinerary leading up to Saturday’s chaos.

Authorities believe Allen traveled from California to Chicago by train before checking into a Washington, D.C. Hilton hotel with a shotgun, a handgun and knives.

After expressing sorrow for having put innocent people in danger by transporting weaponry and plotting to commit an act of violence in a public place, Allen’s letter lays out his list of targets.

He lists “administration officials” as hit top priority, but makes a point of stating that rundown doesn’t include FBI Director Kash Patel, who was in attendance.

The missive claims Secret Service agents “are targets only if necessary,” and expresses hope that those officers will be wearing bulletproof vests. President Trump later said one agent was shot and credited a “very good” vest for saving that officer’s life.

The gunman’s apparent manifesto also lumps hotel security and police officers as attendees he didn’t plan to shoot unless they fired at him.

Hotel employees and guests were categorized as “not targets at all” on that list.

Allen is charged with plotting to shoot the President, whom he doesn’t mention by name, but appears to reference.

“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” the letter reads.

President Trump has been criticized over his connection to Jeffrey Epstein, but has been charged with no crimes tied to the sex offender, who died in 2019.

“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,” the manifesto states.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed Democrats, members of the media and a “left-wing cult of hatred” for creating a divisive and partisan environment that contributes to political violence in a Monday speech mentioning Allen’s apparent manifesto.