A teacher suspected of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump branded the US president a 'villain' in social media posts before carrying out the alleged attack, it has emerged.
Background of the Incident
Cole Allen, 31, a part-time tutor and games developer from California, will appear in court later over the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington DC on Saturday night. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and top officials were rushed out of the venue after Allen allegedly ran through security and opened fire in the building's foyer. Allen was arrested at the scene and is due to be formally charged at a hearing in Washington later today.
Resurfaced Social Media Posts
Multiple posts made by the California Institute of Technology graduate on BlueSky under the username 'Coldforce' have resurfaced. In these posts, he described Trump as 'a sociopathic mob boss' and 'a satanic idolator'. He also wrote: 'Trump is literally one of those villains that if you beat his ass hard enough, he’ll join your team. Don’t really have any other insights to this, it’s not really actionable cause no way schumer just canes him into acting his age, but, like, it would probably literally work on him.'
Another post criticised JD Vance, branding him a 'piece of s**t' for cutting funding for Ukraine. Speaking of his own Christian faith, Allen criticised Trump's AI-generated image of him as Jesus, writing: 'I’m not sure that you can work for this admin and be *any flavour of genuine christian believer* and see trump post something like this [Trump as Jesus] without understanding, at some level, deep down, that you are f****ng damned, even if you’ll never admit it to anyone.'
Details of the Attack
Allen is believed to have travelled by train from California to Chicago and then onto Washington prior to the attack, where he checked himself in as a guest at the hotel where the gala dinner was held. Authorities say he acted alone. He attempted to charge towards the ballroom at the Washington Hilton but was tackled to the ground by Secret Service staff in a violent scene that resulted in shots being fired.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters: 'It does appear that he did in fact set out to target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president.'
Trump's Response
On Sunday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the incident showed why his controversial plans for the East Wing of the White House—what he describes as a 'Militarily Top Secret Ballroom'—were necessary, adding that it would 'never have happened' with the new building in place.
