In it, Cole Allen, 31, apologised to his parents, as well as colleagues and bystanders, for what he was about to do.
He said: "I apologise to everyone... who suffered before I was able to attempt this, to all who may still suffer after, regardless of my success or failure."
He said he may have given "a lot of people a surprise today", and although he did not name Donald Trump directly in the writings, he did criticise him and mentioned targeting the administration.
Explaining why he was going to do what he intended to do, he said "what my representatives do reflects on me", adding that "this is the first real opportunity I've had to do something about it".
In the message, he said administration officials were targets, as were Secret Service agents "only if necessary, and to be incapacitated non-lethally if possible".
He said hotel guests and employees were "not targets at all" and that Capitol police, National Guard and hotel security were not targets "unless they shoot at me".
He said: "In order to minimise casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls)", but added he "would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary".
He also said he did not "expect forgiveness", before criticising the security at the hotel, and signing off with the name Cole "coldForce" "Friendly Federal Assassin" Allen.
The US president and his wife, Melania Trump, were rushed out of the White House correspondents' dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Washington DC on Saturday night after gunshots rang out.
Trump latest: President rushed to safety after gunfire at dinner
The assailant, who reportedly opened fire near the entrance to the ballroom, was quickly apprehended by law enforcement. He has been named as 31-year-old Cole Allen, from Torrance, California.
An officer was struck but was saved by a bulletproof vest, Mr Trump said. Nobody else was injured.
King Charles is travelling to the US for a four-day state visit on Monday, with the incident raising questions about his and the Queen's safety.
But on Sunday evening Buckingham Palace confirmed the trip would still be going ahead.
A statement from the Palace on Sunday read: "Following discussions on both sides of the Atlantic through the day, and acting on advice of Government, we can confirm the State Visit by Their Majesties will proceed as planned.
"The King and Queen are most grateful to all those who have worked at pace to ensure this remains the case and are looking forward to the visit getting under way tomorrow."
It is understood there will be some modest operational adjustments to one or two royal engagements during the trip, but the overall plan remains as previously outlined.
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The Palace said earlier in the day, at lunchtime on Sunday, that a "number of discussions" are taking place today with the White House to determine "what degree the events of Saturday evening may or may not impact on the operational planning for the visit".
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson added: "His Majesty is being kept fully informed of developments and is greatly relieved to hear that the president, first lady and all guests have been unharmed."
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'King Charles is coming, he's a great guy'
Mr Trump told Fox News on Sunday that King Charles would still be attending despite the shooting.
Mr Trump said: "First of all, King Charles is coming, and he's a great guy. We look forward to it. He's really a fantastic person. And a tremendous representative."
Referencing the King's battle with cancer, he added: "He's got a problem with, as you know, very well documented problem with his health, and he's been amazing. Actually, he's very brave actually.
"And he's a friend of mine for a long time. So, he's coming, and we're going to have a great time. And he represents his nation like nobody else can do it."
The King and Queen are understood to have reached out privately to Mr and Mrs Trump to express their sympathies with all affected and their gratitude to the security services for preventing further injuries.
Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister, told Sky News on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that UK security services "obviously remain in close cooperation" over the King's visit.
He said Sir Keir Starmer sent a message to the president this morning in solidarity over the incident and said British Embassy staff and other Brits who were there "are very grateful to the US Secret Service for the action that they took".
Mr Trump said on Friday that he intends to raise topics including Iran, NATO and the United Kingdom's digital services tax when the King visits.
The monarch's visit will mark the 250th anniversary of US independence from Britain and he will make stops in Virginia and New York, as well as the capital where he will deliver an address to Congress.
The visit also comes as relations between the two countries are at what some have been saying is their worst since the Suez Crisis in 1956, with repeated criticism by Mr Trump of Sir Keir Starmer over his refusal to join the US attack on Iran and dismissive remarks about Britain's military capabilities.
A number of politicians and commentators have called for Sir Keir to call off the visit.
The ex-prime ministers, right-wing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid, issued statements on Sunday announcing the merger of their parties, Bennett 2026 and There is a Future.
Lapid, standing alongside Bennett at a joint news conference, said: "We are standing here together for the sake of our children. The State of Israel must change direction."
Bennett said the new party would be called Together, and that he will be its leader.
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He said: "After 30 years it is time to part with Netanyahu and open a new chapter for Israel."
Their bid will commence in the upcoming election expected later this year, they added.
The duo have joined forces before, when they put an end to Netanyahu's successive 12-year tenure in a 2021 election.
But they formed a coalition with a thin majority that survived just 18 months.
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, made a comeback when he won the November 2022 election.
A year later, the Middle East was plunged into turmoil following Hamas's 2023 attack on southern Israel.
Israel retaliated immediately and carried out airstrikes on Gaza.
In mid-December, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said the death toll in the territory had passed 45,000.
Since then, polls have predicted he will lose the next election due by the end of October.
Bennett, 54, an ex-army commando turned tech millionaire, has been trailing Netanyahu in election polls.
A survey on 23 April by Israel's N12 News found Bennett securing 21 of the 120 seats, against 25 for Netanyahu's Likud.
It found Lapid's party securing only seven seats, down from the 24 it currently holds.
A United Nations (UN) fact-finding report estimated the RSF killed at least 6,000 people in three days, in a takeover that bears "the hallmarks of genocide".
Amid the clips of violent killings was a stark warning to Sudanese journalists who have covered the brutal war at home.
A video emerged of Muammar Ibrahim, a reporter known for documenting the 18-month RSF siege on his hometown Al Fashir for the Al Jazeera channel, being jostled in the darkness and forced to speak to the camera by an RSF fighter.
Another video showed Mr Ibrahim visibly terrified on his knees in the dirt.
He has been held by the RSF since they captured Al Fashir with little to no communication with the outside world.
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Around 300 independent journalists have fled Sudan out of fear of repression and retaliation since the start of the war between the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in April 2023.
On 3 November 2025, a video was shared on official RSF channels of Mr Ibrahim sitting at the desk of an RSF officer who announced that the reporter would be investigated for spreading false information.
Reporters Sans Frontiers and the Committee to Protect Journalists have regularly called for Mr Ibrahim's release and protection in the six months since he was detained.
Efforts by journalists and relatives to negotiate his freedom have been unsuccessful. Reporters Sans Frontiers reports that he is being held in an undisclosed location without contact with his family or a lawyer.
On Sunday, a spokesperson for the RSF-led TASIS government responded to my latest questions about Mr Ibrahim's wellbeing and whereabouts - this time in a WhatsApp group created to share TASIS press releases with journalists.
"He is in good health," said Dr Alaa Nugud. "[He] will soon be presented to legal proceedings, especially after appointing Chairperson of the Judiciary system in the Peace government last week."
"What crime is he being charged for?" I asked.
Dr Nugud responded with a series of social media posts shared by Mr Ibrahim that show support for the army and describe the RSF as a militia. An RSF siege was starving Al Fashir into famine at the time of his social media posts.
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The army, state-backed Joint Task Forces, and civilian resistance fighters were fending off RSF capture from inside the city Mr Ibrahim was reporting from.
In the weeks before Al Fashir was captured, state intelligence briefly held and questioned Mr Ibrahim before releasing him.
The TASIS spokesperson also presented the landmark prosecution of two Rwandan journalists for the use of anti-Tutsi hate media to fuel the killing of 800,000 Tutsis in the 1994 genocide.
The journalists were sentenced to life in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a UN court which was based in Tanzania.
"Can you find similarity between the two cases?" Dr Nugud asked. "The judge will decide if there is or no…"
"Who is the judge? What constitution will the court be using? Do you consider Muammar a journalist, protected by International Humanitarian Law?"
There was no response to these questions. The conversation ended and what remains is serious concern over the judge, jury, and executioner in the RSF's prosecution of journalist Muammar Ibrahim.
The Sudanese Journalism Syndicate has documented 393 cases of direct violence against the media and journalists in the first year of war alone.
On 13 April, Sudanese journalist Zamzam Khatir shared on Facebook that her family home in Kutum, North Darfur was raided by the RSF. She said they looted the house and forcibly took her brothers, sisters, nephew, and several female guests to an undisclosed location.
A senior officer said the attack outside Dunmurry police station, southwest of Belfast city centre, at around 10.50pm on Saturday, is being treated as attempted murder and "may well be the work of the New IRA".
PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said in a statement: "A delivery driver's car was hijacked in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast and a gas cylinder device was placed in the boot of the vehicle. The man was ordered to drive it to Dunmurry police station."
He added the vehicle was abandoned outside the front of the station and officers "immediately and courageously ran into danger, placing themselves in harm's way" and evacuated nearby homes.
"A number of residents, including two babies, were being taken to safety by officers when the device exploded, engulfing the vehicle in flames and sending debris in all directions," he added, calling it a "cowardly attack".
Mr Singleton said there were similarities with an incident at Lurgan Police Station in March, and that the "early working hypothesis is that this [attack in Dunmurry] may well be the work of the New IRA".
He said the investigation into the attack will be led by counter-terrorism police.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack and said "those responsible will be brought to justice".
He said on X: "My thoughts are with the local community, and with the PSNI officers who work every day to keep people safe."
Brendan Mullan, chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, said in a statement that the device "was sent to kill officers and cause maximum harm".
Images circulating on the social media accounts of local media and politicians show what appears to be a vehicle engulfed by flames next to the police station. No one was harmed in the explosion.
Forensic officers were examining the wreckage of a burnt-out vehicle on Sunday morning beside the station in the Kingsway area of Dunmurry.
Northern Ireland First Minister, Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill, said those behind the attack "speak for absolutely no one".
She posted on social media: "They have no vision, no support, and have nothing to offer our society. Our communities deserve peace."
DUP leader Gavin Robinson described the reports as "deeply concerning".
He added: "If this was another attempt by dissident republicans to intimidate communities and target the police, then it must be met with the full force of the law."
The UK's Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn also said he was "appalled" by the incident, calling it a "shameless and cowardly attack".
There have been a number of organisations that have used the IRA name, often prompted by ideological differences and groups splintering off.
The Real IRA, who were behind the 1998 Omagh bombing, formed in opposition to the 1997 ceasefire agreed by the Provisional IRA, the Republican paramilitaries who fought in the Troubles.
The New IRA are thought to be currently the largest and most active of the dissident republican terrorist groups in Northern Ireland and in the last few years have claimed a number of attacks.
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Last month, an explosive device that police described as "crude but viable" was at the centre of an attempted attack on another PSNI station.
A delivery driver was forced at gunpoint to transport the device to Lurgan police station in an incident blamed on dissident republicans.