Courtroom sketches of Cole Tomas Allen. Courtesy: Dana Verkouteren
Cole Tomas Allen, the man arrested after allegedly charging a security checkpoint for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, was criminally charged Monday with trying to assassinate President Donald Trump, who was in attendance at that event Saturday.
Allen, 31, is also charged with transportation of a firearm or ammunition in interstate commerce, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, a prosecutor said at his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
“He attempted to assassinate the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump … an enumerated crime of terrorism,” the prosecutor said as she asked Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh to order Allen detained without bond.
In a sworn affidavit submitted in support of the charges, an FBI special agent said Allen had reserved a room at the Washington Hilton Hotel on April 6, nearly three weeks before the dinner was hosted there. Trump had announced on March 2 his plan to attend the event.
Allen, of Torrance, Calif., traveled by train from his home state over several days, arriving in Washington on Friday afternoon.
As the event was underway in the hotel’s ballroom, Allen “approached and ran through the magnetometer holding a long gun,” the agent wrote.
“As he did so, U.S. Secret Service personnel assigned to the checkpoint heard a loud gunshot. U.S. Secret Service Officer V.G. was shot once in the chest; Officer V.G. was wearing a ballistic vest at the time.”
That officer fired his service weapon at Allen, “who fell to the ground and suffered minor injuries but was not shot,” the affidavit stated.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference later Monday afternoon that the officer fired his weapon five times.
Blanche did not answer questions at the press conference over whose bullet struck the officer, citing a lack of complete ballistics information.
“We’re still looking at that,” Blanche said. “We want to get that right.”
Allen had a 12-gauge pump action shotgun and a Rock Island Armory 1911 .38 caliber pistol on his person when he was arrested, according to the affidavit.
The prosecutor said in court that Allen was also carrying three knives and other dangerous paraphernalia when he was arrested.
Sharbaugh scheduled a detention hearing for Thursday morning after Allen’s attorney, Tezira Abe, said he agreed with prosecutors to hold the proceeding that day. The judge also scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case for Monday.
The court hearing came as concerns have been raised over the Secret Service’s handling of Saturday’s event, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance were evacuated after gunshots rang out within hearing of the ballroom at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
CNBC
