WHCD attacker’s manifesto calls Trump a ‘pedophile, rapist, and traitor’ then mocks Secret Service for letting him bring a shotgun into the hotel
A thought-out attack.
Cole Tomas Allen, the man accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, sent a 1,052-word manifesto to his family just 10 minutes before the attack. The document, signed “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen”, called the president a “pedophile, rapist, and traitor” and laid out his “rules of engagement” for the shooting. It also included a scathing rant about Secret Service incompetence.
According to the NY Post, Cole’s manifesto opens with a series of apologies to family, colleagues, and even strangers he put in danger. He writes that he doesn’t expect forgiveness but insists he saw no other way to get close enough to his targets. His primary motivation, he explains, is that he’s “no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” He says while he’s felt this way for long, the correspondents’ dinner was his first opportunity to act.
Allen’s manifesto includes a detailed breakdown of who he considered a target. Administration officials, excluding “Mr. Patel”, were his top priority, ranked from highest to lowest. Secret Service agents were only to be targeted if necessary, and he expressed a preference for non-lethal incapacitation, noting he hoped they were wearing body armor. Hotel security, Capitol Police, and National Guard members were not targets unless they engaged him first.
The manifesto offers a detailed snapshot of Allen’s motivations
Hotel employees and guests were explicitly off-limits. To minimize casualties, Allen wrote that he planned to use buckshot instead of slugs, as it has less penetration through walls. Still, he admitted he would “go through most everyone” to reach his targets if absolutely necessary, arguing that attendees at an event featuring the president were complicit. The manifesto also includes a section where Allen preemptively rebuts potential objections to his actions.
To the argument that as a Christian he should “turn the other cheek,” he responds that doing so when someone else is oppressed isn’t Christian behavior but complicity. He dismisses the idea that the timing was inconvenient by asking if anyone would walk by a rape or murder because it was “inconvenient” for them.
When addressing the objection that he didn’t get all of his targets, he simply replies, “Gotta start somewhere.” He also pushes back against the notion that as a half-black, half-white person, he shouldn’t be the one taking action, writing, “I don’t see anyone else picking up the slack.” Toward the end of the manifesto, Allen shifts to a more personal tone, thanking his family, friends, colleagues, students, and acquaintances for their support over the years.
The document takes a sharp turn in the postscript
Allen then drops the formal tone and launches into a rant about the Secret Service. “What the hell is the Secret Service doing?” he writes, expressing disbelief at the lack of security. He expected “security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo,” but instead found “nothing.”
Allen describes walking into the hotel with multiple weapons and encountering no resistance, calling the level of incompetence “insane.” He even jokes that if he were an Iranian agent, he could have brought a Browning M2 .50-caliber machine gun into the event without anyone noticing.
Allen’s arsenal for the attack was assembled over time from two California gun stores. He purchased a Maverick 12-gauge pump-action shotgun from Turner’s Outdoorsman in Torrance last August and an Armscor semi-automatic pistol from CAP Tactical Firearms in Lawndale in October 2023. Both stores are located near his parents’ home in Torrance, where he stored the weapons and regularly trained at a shooting range.
When asked about Allen’s purchase, a Turner’s Outdoorsman employee declined to confirm or deny the transaction, referring questions to the corporate office. CAP Tactical Firearms, a family-run store in Lawndale, is operated by Bill Mullen, who has spoken openly about fighting the stigma around firearms. In 2017, Mullen had emphasized that not everyone who owns a gun is a criminal and that the Second Amendment is central to his business.
The weapons he used weren’t just bought, but carefully chosen
The Maverick 12-gauge shotgun, purchased from Turner’s Outdoorsman, is a pump-action model known for its reliability and stopping power. It’s a weapon often used in home defense and law enforcement, and its selection aligns with Allen’s stated intent to use buckshot to minimize collateral damage.
The Armscor semi-automatic pistol from CAP Tactical Firearms, on the other hand, is a more compact weapon, easier to conceal but still deadly at close range. The combination of these two firearms suggests Allen was preparing for a scenario where he might need to engage targets at varying distances, whether in the hotel lobby or during a potential pursuit.
The attack unfolded at the Washington Hilton Hotel during the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where 2,500 attendees, including president Donald Trump, the First Lady, and cabinet members, were present. Shots rang out, and high-ranking officials were swiftly evacuated. A Secret Service agent was shot in the vest during the chaos.
Allen was taken into custody in the hotel lobby just yards from the president. He now faces charges of using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. His manifesto paints a disturbing picture of a man who believed he was acting out of a sense of moral duty.
He acknowledges the emotional toll of his actions, writing that he feels like he wants to “throw up” and “cry” over the things he’ll never get to do and the trust he’s betrayed. He even signs off with a darkly humorous note to “stay in school, kids.”
(Featured image: Unknown photographer, published by the Executive Office of the President of the United States)
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