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Prosecutor says Cole Thomas Allen ‘attempted to assassinate the President of the United States’ in Saturday’s attack.
Published on 27 April 2026
Federal authorities in the United States have charged the suspect who allegedly shot a US Secret Service agent while trying to breach security at a press event attended by Donald Trump, with attempted murder of the US President.
Prosecutors announced Monday that Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif., also faces firearms charges in a three-count complaint.
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Allen wore a blue prison jumpsuit at his first appearance in Washington, D.C., federal court, two days after authorities said he foiled the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, an annual black-tie gathering of journalists and politicians in the U.S. capital.
“He attempted to assassinate the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump,” prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine said in court.
Allen has not yet responded to the allegations. Allen, sitting at the defense table with the U.S. Marshals, said he would answer all questions truthfully and that he has a master’s degree in computer science.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sherbaugh ordered Allen detained while the case proceeds. Sharbaugh scheduled another hearing on Allen’s continued custody for Thursday.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington, DC, said after the shooting that the suspect “intended to cause as much damage as possible”.
The shooting, believed to be the third assassination attempt against Trump since 2024, has roiled US politics, with the White House accusing the US president’s Democratic rivals of inciting political violence with their verbal attacks on the administration.
“The deranged lies and slander against the president, his family, his supporters have led crazy people to believe crazy things and they have been driven to violence because of those words,” White House spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt told reporters earlier Monday.
“This has to stop.”
Leavitt told reporters that Trump does not view the incident at the Washington Hilton hotel as a security failure.
“You had a criminal who tried to break the security parameters set up by the Secret Service, and he was running as fast as he could and was immediately gunned down a short time later,” Leavitt said.
