U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the suspect accused of attempting to attack administration officials at a black-tie gala had been reported to law enforcement by family members, describing him as a “pretty sick guy”.
In television interviews, Trump added that the suspect identified by officials as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, had posted what he called 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” programme. “He was probably a pretty sick guy.”
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In the manifesto, Allen called himself the “Friendly Federal Assassin” and said he planned to attack Trump administration officials, prioritising 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 behaviour; 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.
Reuters