Cole Allen took selfie before Trump assassination attempt at WHCA dinner, prosecutors say
Federal prosecutors' detention memo shows guns and knives Allen was allegedly carrying as he tried to enter the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.
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In the photograph, the defendant was wearing a black dress shirt, black slacks, and what appears to be a red necktie, tucked into his pants. An enhanced version of the image (below right) shows that the defendant also appeared to be wearing a small leather bag consistent in appearance with the ammunition- filled bag later recovered from his person (item 1), a shoulder holster (item 2), a sheathed knife consistent in appearance with one of the knives later recovered from his person (item 3), and pliers and wire cutters consistent in appearance with those later recovered from his person (item 4).
Source: United States District Court for the District Of Columbia
Cole Tomas Allen took a selfie photo in his Washington Hilton Hotel room about a half hour before he tried to storm through a security checkpoint with several guns and assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday night, federal prosecutors said in a court filing Wednesday.
The photo of Allen, which is in the filing, shows him wearing a small leather bag that is consistent in appearance with an ammunition-filled bag later recovered from him, a shoulder holster, a sheathed knife that appears to be one of the knives later recovered from him "and pliers and wire cutters consistent in appearance with those later recovered from his person," the filing says.
Prosecutors included the photo, as well as photos of guns and knives that Allen was allegedly carrying on Saturday, to argue he should be detained without bond.
A detention hearing for the 31-year-old California resident is scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Allen has been held since he was tackled by Secret Service officers on Saturday, before he could run down a staircase to the ballroom where Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other top Trump administration officials were attending the annual media soiree.
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"Had the defendant achieved his intended outcome, he would have brought about one of the darkest days in American history," prosecutors in the office of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro wrote in the filing.
"The defendant traveled across the country with the explicit aim to kill the President of the United States. The defendant, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, a .38 caliber pistol, two knives, four daggers, and enough ammunition to take dozens of lives, was apprehended by [U.S. Secret Service] officers mere feet away from the ballroom where his primary target was located, along with other members of the Cabinet," the filing says.
"This was a planned attack of unfathomable malice that risked the lives of hundreds of people whose only transgression was attending an annual event celebrating the media and featuring the President of the United States," prosecutors wrote. "It was, at its core, an anti-democratic act of political violence."
Allen is charged with trying to assassinate Trump, transportation of a firearm or ammunition in interstate commerce, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.
