Cole Allen allegedly breached security at a presidential press event on Saturday while armed with a shotgun and pistol
© US President Trump via Truth Social/Anadolu via Getty Images
The
armed suspect who allegedly tried to storm past security at the White
House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday has been charged with the
attempted assassination of US President Donald Trump.
Cole Allen,
31, a teacher from California, was allegedly armed with a 12 gauge pump
action shotgun, a .38-caliber semi-automatic pistol and three knives
when he was arrested after his attempt to rush the high-end event on
Saturday, Assistant US Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine told a federal court
in Washington on Monday.
Federal prosecutors have charged Allen
with attempted assassination of the president, interstate transportation
of weapons, and discharge of a firearm during a violent crime.
The suspect did not have to enter a plea at this time.
US
Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ordered detention for Allen while
the case moves forward. The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday, when
it will be determined whether he is eligible for pretrial release.
Allen’s preliminary hearing was set for May 11.
Despite charging Allen with attempting to assassinate the president,
US Attorney General Todd Blanche made it clear that the suspect had no
chance to get to Trump.
“This man was a floor above the ballroom, with hundreds of federal agents between him and the president of the US,” he said in a press conference after the court hearing.
When
asked whether the investigation has determined who shot a Secret
Service agent during Allen’s alleged assassination attempt, Blanche
declined to answer directly, stressing that the evidence is still being
studied.
“It appears… that there were five shots that law enforcement fired,” he said. “We believe, as the complaint lays out, that the defendant fired the shotgun… But as far as getting into exacting ballistics, I’m not going to do that today.”
In a manifesto Allen purportedly wrote,
first published by the New York Post, the suspect said he was aiming to
kill administration officials, with the “highest-ranking” target being Trump, whom he called “a pedophile, rapist, and traitor.”