Transgender Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale included President Donald Trump on a handwritten “fantasy murder list,” according to newly released FBI documents that Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said reveal a disturbing mix of political hatred, satanic imagery, and mental instability across approximately 1,500 pages of journal entries obtained by The Star.
In an interview on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Pappert on Tuesday detailed the most recent release from the FBI, which includes a 485-page journal written by Hale between 2019 and 2020.
Pappert said five pages into reading the journal, he saw Trump’s name as one of four names Hale listed in her “fantasy murder list.”
“I got five pages into the journal yesterday and I saw President Donald Trump’s name…on what she called a fantasy murder list. The fantasy murder list contained just four names – two of them were redacted,” Pappert explained.
Pappert said he believes one of the redacted names may be that of Hale’s father, Ronald. The journal also reveals that Hale considered attacking Creswell Middle Prep, a school she previously attended, but ultimately rejected the idea due to its predominantly black student body.
Instead, Hale selected the Covenant School, the small Christian elementary school where she committed the shooting in 2023.
“I have a hunch that one of the redacted names was the name of her father, Ronald Hale, but then there was Creswell Middle Prep – that’s the middle school where she once attended. She wanted to attack it, but she was afraid that she would be accused of racism because it’s a predominantly black school. She settled on the Christian elementary school, the Covenant School, and then the final name visible on the fantasy murder list is Donald J. Trump,” Pappert added.
The newly released material adds to an expanding body of writings that began with a leaked portion of Hale’s 2023 journal, which The Star published last year. That earlier leak revealed the shooter’s obsession with mass violence and her deep psychological instability.
Noting how the FBI has now disclosed an estimated 1,500 to 1,600 pages of Hale’s journals, notes, and personal writings, Pappert emphasized that this level of access was unexpected and credited newly appointed FBI Director Kash Patel for the release.
“I must say that this is more than I expected to get from the FBI. I thought the only way that we would be receiving these Covenant killer manifesto documents, frankly, was if more sources came to The Tennessee Star, as how we published the first 2023 manifesto last year. So I’m very thrilled. I think Kash Patel should be lauded for this,” Pappert said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
