Washington [US], April 27: US President Donald Trump says the suspect accused of trying to attack administration officials at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner had an anti-Christian manifesto and "a lot of hatred in his heart" but was stopped well short of the hotel ballroom hosting the event.
Trump told Fox News on Sunday that the suspect was "a sick guy" and that his family previously expressed concerns about him to law enforcement officials.
The suspect, whom an official identified as Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, was arrested at the scene of the event in Washington, D.C."When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians," Trump said on Fox News.
The manifesto was sent to Allen's family members shortly before the attack, a law enforcement official told Reuters. The suspect called himself the "Friendly Federal Assassin," the official said.
"Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behaviour; it is complicity in the oppressor's crimes," the manifesto read, according to the official.
Targets listed in the manifesto included administration officials - although not FBI Director Kash Patel - prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest, the official said.
The manifesto mocked the "insane" lack of security at the Washington Hilton, where the dinner was held, the official added.
"Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance," the manifesto's author reportedly wrote.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation
