Accused Would-Be Trump Assassin Enters Plea As He Faces Life In Prison

The man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last month pleaded not guilty Monday morning.

Cole Tomas Allen faces federal charges of attempting to assassinate the president, assaulting a federal officer, and multiple gun charges. He entered his not guilty plea in federal court for the District of Columbia. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Allen charged through a security checkpoint on April 25 at the Washington Hilton Hotel where Trump and other high-level federal officials were attending the dinner, according to prosecutors. He was armed with a shotgun, handgun, and knives and shot a Secret Service agent during the attack, prosecutors said. 

Allen sent an email the night of the attack to family members saying that he was no longer willing to allow “a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” according to an FBI affidavit. 

Allen sent the email to family members at approximately 8:40 p.m. on the night of the attack, appearing to acknowledge his actions, according to the affidavit. 

“So I may have given a lot of people a surprise today,” the email read. “Let me start off by apologizing to everyone whose trust I abused. I apologize to my parents for saying I had an interview without specifying it was for ‘Most Wanted.” 

The message also identified potential targets.

“Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” the email stated.

The case against Allen is being overseen by Judge Zia Faruqui, who has “devoted” his career to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Last week, he apologized to Allen after he was held in solitary confinement. 

“I’m sorry,” Faruqui told Allen. “Whatever you’ve been through, I apologize for the prior week.”

Jail officials placed Allen on a temporary suicide watch that required 24-hour-a-day placement in a padded, lighted cell without access to phone calls, books, religious material, or recreational time.

Faruqui, who has overseen January 6 cases, said Allen was being housed in more extreme conditions and treated more severely than those defendants, who were held in a lower restriction part of the jail called the Central Treatment Facility.

“The Jan. 6 defendants all were moved to the CTF,” Faruqui said. “Pardons may erase convictions but they do not erase history … He’s being treated differently than anyone I’ve ever observed.”