The New York Post claimed Sunday to have obtained a copy of a manifesto written by the suspected shooter who disrupted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) Saturday night, in which the gunman names every Trump administration official as a target – except for one, and without explanation as to the lone exclusion.
The suspected gunman was soon identified as 31-year-old California resident Cole Allen, who police said had rushed through a Secret Service checkpoint at the event bearing a shotgun, a handgun and several knives. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche later said Allen was believed to be targeting Trump administration officials.
On Sunday, the Post published what they claimed to be Allen’s manifesto in full, which Allen had sent to family members 10 minutes before the shooting, according to the Post.
“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” the suspected shooter wrote in his manifesto, an apparent reference to President Donald Trump, according to the Post.
Allen then went on to name his list of targets, which excluded just one Trump administration official: FBI Director Kash Patel.
“Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” the manifesto reads.
According to the manifesto – which was confirmed as authentic by multiple journalists – Allen did not intend to target any other event attendees, including Secret Service officials, unless they posed a direct threat to either his life or achieving his goal.
“In order to minimize casualties I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls),” the alleged manifesto reads.
“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.”