President Donald Trump says the suspect wrote an anti-Christian manifesto and is a ‘sick man’.
Published on 26 April 2026
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche says United States authorities believe a gunman accused of trying to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was targeting US President Donald Trump and members of his administration.
Blanch said Sunday that authorities believe the suspect traveled by train from California to Washington, D.C., via Chicago.
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On Saturday evening, shots were fired near the ballroom where the dinner was being held, as Secret Service agents subdued the gunman and Trump, top government officials and hundreds of journalists attended the event.
Investigators have not publicly released the suspect’s name, but multiple U.S. media outlets have identified him as Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California.
Trump told Fox News that the suspect’s family had raised concerns about him to local police before the event. The President also told the TV news channel that the accused man had written an anti-Christian declaration.
“That man is a sick man,” he told Fox News. “When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians.”
Law enforcement officials who conducted a preliminary examination of the suspect’s electronic devices and his writings believe his intention was to target members of the Trump administration present at the dinner.
“It appears that he actually planned to target people working in the administration, possibly including the president,” Blanch told the NBC TV network.
The attorney general said the suspect is believed to have purchased the two firearms he took with him Saturday night within the past few years. Blanch said he is not cooperating with law enforcement and is expected to be arraigned on multiple charges on Monday.
Social media posts matching the suspect reveal that he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer with multiple degrees in computer science and mechanical engineering.
Video posted by Trump shows the suspect jumping security barricades as Secret Service agents run toward him. One officer, wearing a bullet-resistant vest, was shot but is recovering, officials said. The gunman was taken into custody and was not injured, but was taken to a hospital for evaluation, police said.
Outside the hotel, National Guard members and other officials flooded the area as helicopters circled.
Trump used the event to push his plan to build a large ballroom next to the White House, a plan that has faced legal challenges and polls indicate that most Americans oppose it.
“What happened last night is the same reason why our great military, the Secret Service, law enforcement and, for different reasons, every president for the last 150 years are demanding that a larger, safer and more secure ballroom be built on the grounds of the White House,” Trump wrote on his Truth social platform on Sunday.
The $400 million ballroom has become a passion project for Trump during his second term.
Trump was unusually accommodating, calling for unity and bipartisan healing after what looked like a third attempt on his life in less than two years.
