Suspected shooter’s social media posts show shift from video games to political rage
By Em Steck, Andrew Kaczynski, Casey Tolan, Rob Kuznia, CNN
(CNN) — The suspect charged in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting shared posts comparing President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler and encouraged others critical of his presidency to purchase guns, according to a CNN review of two social media accounts that appear to belong to him.
The accounts linked to 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, who appeared in court today on charges of attempting to assassinate Trump, shifted in recent years from posts about video games to angrier political messages.
The postings also echo arguments in a message Allen allegedly sent family members before the attack that laid out a plan to target Trump administration officials and expressed anger at their actions.
Investigators believe that the posts, as well as information taken from multiple electronic devices seized over the past few days, show Allen’s animosity towards Trump and his administration, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.
A senior Justice Department official confirmed to CNN that Allen used the X account handle “CForce3000.” The account has been taken offline, but CNN reviewed more than 4,000 posts that are saved on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
CNN also reviewed more than 700 archived posts from the now-offline @coldforce.bsky.social account on the social media network Bluesky. That account also appears to belong to Allen based on biographical details it posted that matched Allen’s life, as well as the similar username and content posted on the X account. In the message Allen allegedly sent family members, he signed off with the nickname “coldForce.”
On X, Allen appeared to post largely about video games in 2022, encouraging users to check out his YouTube channel, which featured dozens of short videos about the popular Nintendo game Super Smash Bros. before the account was taken down.
By 2024, archived tweets show him resharing political content from other users. Allen repeatedly retweeted posts on X comparing Trump to Hitler, as well as a post advocating for nullifying that year’s election results. In the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Allen retweeted posts baselessly speculating that the attack could have been staged.
Trump is “quite capable of having staged a fake assassination attempt on himself to trick the American public,” argued one user in a message that Allen retweeted.
Allen appears to have started posting on the Bluesky social media platform in February 2025, a few weeks into Trump’s second term. That account frequently criticized the Trump administration’s policies and lamented that more powerful figures weren’t taking action against the president.
“Everyone already knows trump is a f**king awful person in multiple dimensions and no one has done sh*t,” the “coldforce” account wrote in April 2025.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press conference with other Justice Department officials Monday that investigators are probing any connection Allen may have had to left wing groups, though Blanche was not asked about the posts specifically.
Some of the account’s posts and reposts advocate for gun possession and purchases. “Best time to buy a gun was days ago,” the account wrote in December 2025, adding, “second best time is today.”
Last month, the account posted to accuse Trump of being a “traitor” to the United States.
“Put a traitor BACK in office, get treason like, I don’t understand why people are surprised by the US ripping itself apart,” the user wrote in March. “I’m pretty sure that’s the expected outcome of having a traitor at the helm.”
Those online messages contrast with some real-world interactions students had with Allen, a part-time tutor who lived in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance.
Dylan Wakayama, the founder of the volunteer group Asian American Civic Trust – whose members include high school students Allen tutored – said students he had talked to were stunned by Allen’s arrest. One student told him that she had last worked with Allen less than two weeks ago, Wakayama said, and another said that his brother had been tutored by Allen and had found him to be intelligent.
“Everyone is shocked in Torrance about this whole situation,” he said.
According to charging documents, Allen invoked his right to remain silent after his arrest. He sat in court Thursday expressionless, and responded clearly to the judge’s questions.
Investigators say they are still shoring up details of how the evening unfolded as Allen allegedly ran through a security barrier and attempted to assassinate the president. More charges will likely be filed, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Monday.
Blanche said agents have not yet established how many shots Allen fired or if it was one of his rounds hit a Secret Service agent’s vest. Law enforcement is waiting on ballistics results that may clarify those details, he added.
Cole is expected to return to court Thursday for a detention hearing.
CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz, Katelyn Polantz, Holmes Lybrand, and Devan Cole contributed.
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