Cole Allen, the gunman who carried out the attack on White House officials, had been raising money for the Ukrainian armed forces and sharply criticised the Trump administration for scaling back support for Ukraine. That is according to the New York Post.
Ten minutes before the attack, Allen sent relatives a manifesto of more than 1,000 words, in which he described President Trump as “a pedophile and a rapist”. In the text, he said he saw it as his “duty” to attack members of the administration.
“I no longer intend to let a pedophile, a rapist, and a traitor stain my hands with his crimes,” the manifesto says.
Allen laid out “rules of engagement”, dividing people into “targets” and “non-targets”, and claimed he had sought to minimise unintended casualties, though he also said he was prepared to do whatever it took to achieve his aims. He also criticised the event’s security, noting that he had been able to bring in a weapon with virtually no obstruction.
The New York Post identified dozens of his posts sharply criticising the Trump administration—with the rhetoric intensifying as support for Ukraine declined. In one message, Allen called vice-president JD Vance “a piece of shit” for saying that the United States had effectively left Ukraine without aid. At the same time, he was independently organising fundraisers for Ukrainian brigades.
Trump criticised the programme 60 Minutes, where an excerpt from the manifesto was read aloud. He said he had expected such a question and called the journalists “terrible people”.
“I am not a rapist. I have never raped anyone,” Trump said.
When the presenter asked whether he believed the manifesto was referring to him, Trump replied: “I am not a pedophile. You are reading this nonsense from a sick person.” He also added that he had been “fully exonerated” and told the journalist: “You should be ashamed of yourself… You are a disgrace.”