REUTERS, Washington

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the suspect accused of trying to attack administration officials at a black-tie gala on Saturday night was a “pretty sick guy” who had been flagged to law enforcement by family members.

Trump said in TV interviews that the suspect, whom an official identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, had posted what Trump described as an “anti-Christian” manifesto.

“He was a Christian, believer, and then he became an anti-Christian, and he had a lot of change,” Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” program. “He was probably a pretty sick guy.”

In the manifesto, Allen calls himself the “Friendly Federal Assassin” and said he planned to attack Trump administration officials, prioritising them from highest-ranking to lowest, but excluding FBI Director Kash Patel, a law enforcement official told Reuters. Allen cited Christian theology as he said he was trying to protect those harmed by the administration’s policies.

“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.

The manifesto, which was sent to members of Allen’s family shortly before the attack, mocked the “insane” lack of security at the Washington Hilton, where the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was held, the official added. Allen was arrested at the scene.

Officials have said the suspect fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a security checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel before being tackled and arrested.

The suspect will be charged in federal court today with assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer, Blanche said, adding he did not know if there was an Iran connection to the attack. Further federal indictments will be coming later, Blanche said.