The man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at a Washington hotel allegedly followed the president’s movements in real-time using a website and live video feeds and took a selfie as he armed himself, according to new details disclosed by the US Justice Department.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, wore black pants, a black shirt and a red tie, and had an ammunition bag, shoulder gun holster and sheathed knife, as he snapped the image in his room at the Washington Hilton, authorities say. Trump, administration officials and hundreds of journalists were meeting for the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the hotel on Saturday night.
As he approached a security checkpoint, Allen took off a long black coat that concealed a shotgun, “sprinted” through a metal detector and fired the weapon at least once toward stairs leading to the ballroom before he was restrained and arrested, the government said.
New details emerged in a court filing made by prosecutors who want Allen, from Torrance, California, to remain in custody.
According to the government’s memo, a Secret Service agent fired five times at Allen, but the defendant wasn’t hit. The government previously has said that an agent wearing a ballistic vest was shot in the chest, but hasn’t confirmed who they believe was responsible for that.
“He intended to kill and fired his shotgun while trying to breach security and attack his target. Put simply, the defendant poses an uncommonly serious danger to the community if released pending trial. The defendant’s lack of criminal history and other personal circumstances do not alter this conclusion,” Assistant US Attorney Charles Jones wrote.
Federal prosecutors said that, “had the defendant achieved his intended outcome, he would have brought about one of the darkest days in American history. The defendant travelled across the country with the explicit aim to kill the president of the United States.”
Allen allegedly booked a hotel room at the Washington Hilton about a month after Trump announced in early March that he would attend the annual dinner, which was being held at the venue. Around that time, Allen had searched for the term “white house correspondents dinner 2026” online, the government said.
In the days that followed and during his train trip to Washington, Allen allegedly used his mobile phone to access a number of online articles about the dinner and the expected schedule of events.
On April 25, the day of the dinner, prosecutors said Allen used his phone to access a website that tracks the president’s movements based on publicly available schedule information. In the half hour leading to the alleged attack, he took the mirror photo of himself and accessed a live video feed of Trump travelling to the hotel, according to the filing.
Investigators said preset emails with an “Apology and Explanation” attachment were sent at approximately 8.30pm.
Prosecutors previously said Allen sent a manifesto to friends and family that appeared to take responsibility for a planned attack that involved Trump and other administration officials, although he didn’t name the president.
At the end of the letter, Allen wrote that he felt “awful” but that he “experience[d] rage thinking about everything this administration has done,” according to the government.
He concluded with, “Can’t really recommend it! Stay in school, kids.”
Allen appeared in court on Monday and was charged with a number of offences including the attempted assassination of the president. He faces a potential life sentence if convicted on the assassination attempt charge. One of his lawyers, Tezira Abe, noted he had no criminal record and said he “is presumed innocent at this time.”
Trump was rushed off the stage by his security team and appeared at the White House two hours after the incident, still in his tuxedo.
“When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone,” he said. “They seem to think he was a lone wolf.”
A detention hearing is scheduled for Allen on Thursday in the federal district court in Washington.
AP, Bloomberg
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