President Donald Trump said the suspect was a ‘very troubled guy.’
Members of the FBI knock on doors of neighbors of a home associated with the suspected White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter in Torrance, California, on April 26, 2026. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP
President Donald Trump said on April 26 that the man accused of shooting a Secret Service agent at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner had allegedly written a manifesto expressing “anti-Christian” views.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump described the suspect as a “very troubled guy” and said that he allegedly wrote a manifesto expressing hatred toward Christians and outlining intentions to assassinate Trump administration officials at the event.
Trump noted that the suspect’s brother had notified law enforcement in New London, Connecticut, to report about the alleged manifesto prior to the shooting.
“The guy is a sick guy. When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians,” he said. “I think his sister or brother actually was complaining about it. You know, they were even complaining to law enforcement.”
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 25 after a gunman breached a security checkpoint near the ballroom and shot a Secret Service agent. Authorities arrested the suspect, identified as Cole Allen of Torrance, California, at the scene.
Trump told Fox News that Allen’s writings suggested he had harbored “a lot of hatred in his heart for quite a while” that seemed to be related to a “religious thing” and that his family was aware he had difficulty.
“He was a Christian believer, and then he became an anti-Christian. And he had a lot of change,” Trump said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” program. “He’s been going through a lot based on what he wrote.”
During the broadcast, Trump reacted as the host read portions of the manifesto, in which the suspect referenced a “pedophile” and “rapist.”
“Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would,” the president said, adding, “Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.”
When asked whether he thinks the suspect was referring to him, Trump said: “I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person. I got associated with all stuff that has nothing to do with me. I was totally exonerated.”
It was also mentioned during the interviews that the suspect had allegedly posted anti-Trump content on social media and had at some point attended a “No Kings” protest in California.
The “No Kings” demonstrations were held in several cities across the United States last year to protest against the policies of the Trump administration, including its immigration enforcement measures.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on April 26 that the suspect “set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president.”
Allen is believed to have traveled from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington by train, Blanche said.
The investigation remains ongoing, with law enforcement officials examining the suspect’s writings and interviewing individuals who knew him. Investigators believed that Allen had acted alone.