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The indictment filed by prosecutors in the case against Cole Allen, who is accused of trying to kill President Donald Trump, offered the opinion of the 31-year-old man in the days before last weekend’s attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, DC.
According to the report, Allen boarded an Amtrak train on April 21 after purchasing a ticket from Los Angeles to the nation’s capital, stopping only in Chicago to change trains. While on board, prosecutors said he “kept a running note on his phone about his observations and thoughts during his cross-country train trip.”
But those notes had nothing to do with Allen’s alleged plan to commit a major crime. Instead, his thinking along the way, along with what he wrote in a recent manifesto, paints a picture of an unfocused man whose thoughts “scattered,” as one FBI ethics analyst put it, despite the gravity of the situation.
Police arrested Cole Allen following an alleged shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, DC, on April 25, 2026. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social)
While traveling in the US southwest on the first leg of his journey, Allen made a note: “[t]desert southwest in spring Distant wind turbines loom like snow-capped mountains in the dark desert of NM.”
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In Chicago, where he would change trains and take a second train to his final destination, Allen wrote, “Chicago is cool; it’s like a small Iowa town blown up to LA size.” On a road through southwestern Pennsylvania, he wrote that “the woods are wonderful (they look like a great fairyland filled with apparently flowing streams in the spring.”
The train route taken by Cole Allen runs from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, with a stop in Chicago where he changes trains. Allen’s three-day trip began on April 21, 2026, and he was taking notes along the way. (Fox News Digital)
Allen arrived in Washington, DC on the afternoon of Friday, April 24. He spent about 30 hours in the city before launching his attack.
Surveillance video from the Washington Hilton hotel, also released by the Justice Department, showed Allen apparently walking the hallways, entering the hotel’s fitness center and looking around before quickly exiting.
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Minutes before the attack, an email intended for Allen was sent to his family and friends, detailing his actions, according to authorities.
It is said that he admitted that his work will hurt him a lot, but he did not say that he is willing to die for his crime. His motives were political, and he painted himself as a savior of the oppressed. He apologized profusely to his family, friends and everyone he met on his journey across the country. He mentioned that there are certain people he hoped would not be caught in the act, and described himself as “friends.”
Surveillance video released by the Department of Justice appears to show suspect Cole Allen rushing through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton with a weapon during the shooting of White House reporters. (Department of Justice)
Jonny Grusing worked as a special agent in the FBI’s Denver Field Office for 25 years. For 13 of those years, he was the coordinator of the Department’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.
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“His paleness about this thing he was talking about on the train or writing about, is consistent with what he wrote in his manifesto like, ‘Hello everyone, so I might surprise many people today,'” said Grusing. “I mean, that’s not someone who only focuses on the complaint.”
“I would say he was conflicted. He apologizes to everyone, even the people he was riding with [train] “But he apologizes to the people at work, he apologizes to his family and he apologizes to the people he may have abused. Whether it’s him trying to convince anyone reading this, that he’s not a bad person or that he’s contradicting himself … that’s not someone who seems to me to have a single mind that he’s going to succeed in his job.”
Photo of Cole Allen in 2025 graduation gown and cap. (Cole Allen/LinkedIn)
Grusing said Allen appeared “disorganized,” and described him as a racist.
“The profile unit taught us about dangerous personality traits and two that I think would apply to Mr. Allen are narcissism and psychopathy,” he said. “I think he’s become very narcissistic in his writing, saying, ‘this is me,’ ‘this is my problem,’ [and] ‘I have to.’
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“Also trying to control the way other people see him, like the people who were on the train with him helping him with his luggage, this did not affect them at all,” said Grusing. “And yet he feels like he’s affecting the whole community by doing what he’s doing, which again, that’s what makes me think, when he’s making these little speeches and apologizing to everybody, he’s saying, ‘I’m going to be a national name for doing this. Look at me.’
“So you’re setting yourself up as a martyr, as this patriot, as the only one who can really fix this broken thing, and that’s very dangerous.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Allen’s attorney.
