It has been confirmed that the suspect in the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner prepared a manifesto in advance declaring a plot to target the highest ranks of the administration. The statement laid out plans to assassinate top officials, including the U.S. president, and set out arguments justifying terrorism. The suspect was arrested shortly after the incident, but criticism has mounted that the security net for an event that should boast the highest level of protection was breached with ease.
According to a compilation of reports by major outlets including the New York Post and Reuters on the 26th (local time), the day before, shooting suspect Cole Thomas Allen, 31, sent a statement to family about 10 minutes before the attack detailing his motive and other points.
Allen did not directly mention U.S. President Donald Trump by name in the statement, but by specifying that he would "target administration officials in order of priority from the highest rank down," he effectively suggested he had the president squarely in his sights. Calling himself a "kind federal assassin," he said, "I will no longer allow pedophiles, rapists, and traitors to dirty my hands with crime," explaining the purpose of the attack.
Allen highlighted in the statement that he sought to minimize harm to civilians, even specifying rules of engagement. He drew a line, saying, "Secret Service agents are targets only when necessary, and hotel security staff and guests are not targets unless they attack first." He especially said he would use shot shells with a lower risk of penetrating walls, rationalizing even potential attacks on general attendees at the event.
At the same time, he sharply criticized the security system at the Washington Hilton, the crime scene. He mocked the security net's incompetence, saying, "If I were an Iranian operative rather than a U.S. citizen, no one would have noticed even if I walked in with an M2 machine gun."
The suspect insisted that his actions did not run counter to Christian values. Citing resistance against oppressors, he justified terrorism by saying, "Turning the left cheek when someone else is being oppressed is to be complicit in the oppressor's crime."
But on the 26th, President Trump said in a Fox News interview, "If you read his manifesto, it's clear he hates Christians," adding that it was "strongly anti-Christian."
Investigators are focusing on a meticulously premeditated crime. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said, "It was found that Allen checked into the hotel a day or two before the event." U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro told the BBC, "The suspect will be charged with using a firearm during a violent crime and assaulting a federal official."