AG: Gunman believed to target Trump

The shooting suspect arrested at a Washington hotel appeared to have been targeting US President Donald Trump, according to US officials and a manifesto believed to have been written by the suspect.

"We have preliminary work into some of his electronic devices," said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, "and talking to some of the individuals who knew him … it does appear that he did in fact have set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president."

The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, is scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington, DC on Monday, facing charges of using a firearm during a crime of violence, and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.

Allen was apprehended inside the Washington Hilton hotel, but outside the room where Trump was meeting the national media during the White House Correspondents' dinner.

Trump said on Sunday that the suspect had an anti-Christian manifesto and "a lot of hatred in his heart".

A thousand-word manifesto retrieved by authorities allegedly laid out plans for a mass shooting, mainly targeting the president, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reviewed the document.

It said that Allen wanted to target administration officials "prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest." It also said: "I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary," adding, "I really hope it doesn't come to that".

The manifesto was sent to Allen's family members shortly before the attack, a law enforcement official said.  The suspect had railed against Trump administration policies and referred to himself as a "Friendly Federal Assassin" in writings sent to family members minutes before the attack that authorities increasingly believe was politically motivated, according to a message reviewed by The Associated Press.

The AP also reported that authorities had uncovered what one law enforcement official described as numerous anti-Trump social media posts linked to the suspect.

"Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor's crimes," the manifesto read, according to an official.

Washington Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. 

Carroll believed Allen had a room at the hotel.

"We have secured a room here in the hotel, and again, we'll go through the appropriate procedures to determine what was inside there," Carroll told the media.

According to Reuters, Allen's sister told authorities that he had a tendency to make radical statements, had attended an anti-Trump "No Kings" protest and referred to a plan to do "something" to fix issues with today's world.

Videos released after the shooting showed a man running toward a security checkpoint while firing a weapon. One Secret Service agent was hit, though he was wearing a protective vest.

The man was apprehended off camera, and before he got to the ballroom where Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice-President JD Vance and other cabinet members were in attendance.

Trump, who had boycotted the media gala in the past, has requested that the dinner be rescheduled, Reuters reported, adding that the White House Correspondents' Association would determine the next steps.

"This was an event dedicated to freedom of speech that was supposed to bring together members of both parties with members of the press," Trump later posted. "And in a certain way, it did, because the fact that they just unified, I saw a room that was just totally unified."

Trump survived a previous assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July 2024, and a few months later a man was arrested while pointing a rifle toward Trump as he was golfing in Florida.

Reuters said that Saturday's incident was reminder of the rising political violence in the United States. Conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead at a rally in September, just months after the slaying of Democratic Minnesota state Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband and the wounding of a Minnesota state senator.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the days following Kirk's murder found that Americans believe increasingly harsh rhetoric surrounding politics is encouraging violence in the US.

Saturday's shooting appeared to prop up Trump's argument for a new ballroom at the White House.

"It's not particularly a secure building," Trump said of the Washington Hilton, about a 10-minute drive from the White House.

It was also the site of the 1981 assassination attempt against then-president Ronald Reagan.

While the roughly 2,600 attendees were required to pass through metal detectors to enter the basement ballroom, they needed only to show a ticket to enter the hotel itself, which was also open to guests.

Hundreds of agents were tasked with protecting the annual event, yet a suspect armed with a shotgun and other weapons managed to get a floor above the ballroom where an extraordinary concentration of cabinet members, high-ranking lawmakers and celebrities were dining.

shiguang@chinadailyusa.com