Donald Trump’s alleged White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooter has been indicted by a grand jury on four counts – including a new charge.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, was armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives when he rushed a security checkpoint and ran toward the ballroom at the Washington Hilton on April 25.
He was initially charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to assassinate the President, transportation of a firearm with intent to commit a felony and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Allen’s indictment by a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Tuesday includes the same three counts but also adds a charge of assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon.
The addition of the new charge confirms Allen is alleged to have shot a Secret Service agent, who was struck in his bullet-resistant vest and not seriously injured.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche indicated last week that investigators wanted to review more ballistics evidence before making that determination.
Trump and many of his top cabinet secretaries were gathered with thousands of journalists for the annual dinner.
Allen traveled by train from his home in California to carry out the attack and allegedly left a note which said that administration officials were his targets and ‘prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.’
Cole Tomas Allen is detained after charging security and opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington DC on April 25
Trump and many of his top cabinet secretaries were gathered with thousands of journalists for the annual dinner
Allen, of Torrance, California, has not yet entered a plea.
He was injured but not shot when he was subdued by law enforcement.
Allen e was placed on suicide watch after his arrest, but jail officials removed him from that status over the weekend.
His attorneys complained that he had been unnecessarily confined in a padded room with constant lighting, repeatedly strip searched and placed in restraints outside his cell.
A liberal federal judge sparked outrage on Monday after apologizing to Allen over the conditions in the 24-hour lockup and politicizing her rhetoric by contrasting his confinement to those arrested after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui slammed attorneys, stating: ‘At a minimum, I should be apologizing to him. We are obligated to make sure he’s taken care of. Mr. Allen, I’m sorry that things have not been the way they are supposed to.’
‘To me, it’s extremely disturbing that he was put in five-point restraints, a person with no criminal history,’ Faruqui added.
‘It’s troubling. I never heard of one January 6 defendant who was put in five-point restraints or in a safe cell. If the only way to keep him safe is the most punitive thing, that’s a problem,’ the judge said.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, has been held in 24-hour lockup ever since he was placed in federal custody
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui slammed attorneys during a Monday afternoon court hearing over the conditions of Allen’s imprisonment. Allen was placed on suicide watch when he was first jailed
The judge ordered officials at the DC jail to update him by tomorrow morning about Allen’s requested jail accommodations. Allen’s attorneys filed a motion on Sunday demanding he be removed from suicide watch restrictions in prison.
While admonishing prison officials, Judge Faruqui emphasized that Allen is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Yet Allen posted a manifesto admitting to plotting the shooting, and video footage captured the would-be assassin rushing past Secret Service while wielding a shotgun before agents opened fire.
Trump’s allies and online supporters reacted with outrage to the judge’s apology to Allen by demanding his removal. Allen has not entered a plea in the case.
‘Remove this judge NOW!’ wrote MAGA influencer Eric Daugherty on X.
Nick Sortor, a popular online Trump supporter, also slammed Faruqui: ‘WTF? Magistrate judge Zia Faruqui in DC APOLOGIZED to the WHCA shooter Cole Allen for the ‘treatment’ he’s received so far in jail. DC judges are an absolute JOKE.’
Last week, Allen appeared in court alongside his public defenders, wearing an orange jumpsuit and white undershirt. He maintained a calm, emotionless demeanor throughout the hearing.
Allen charged Secret Service while carrying a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives
Allen was armed with seven knifes during the time of the attack, prosecutors say
Federal prosecutors released a chilling selfie of Allen pictured in his hotel room, apparently clad with weapons, moments before he charged a security checkpoint in an alleged plot to kill Donald Trump.
Prosecutors say that he took the mirror selfie in his hotel room at 8.03pm in full evening dress just minutes before he arrived at the event with a shotgun.
‘He was wearing a black dress shirt, black slacks, and what appears to be a red necktie, tucked into his pants,’ the court filing states.
He was also wearing a ‘small leather bag’ filled with ammunition, a shoulder holster, a sheathed knife, pliers, and wire cutters.
Prosecutors say that after taking the selfie, Allen searched the President’s schedule again at 8.13pm, then looked at live video of Trump arriving at 8.27pm, immediately before his emailed confession went out to family and friends at 8.30pm.
