Alleged WHCD shooter to remain in federal custody until trial

Cole Tomas Allen, a resident of Torrance, California, appeared in Washington, D.C., federal court on Thursday, where he agreed to remain in detention until his trial on May 11. Allen was charged with the attempted assassination of a U.S. president, transmission of a firearm across state lines and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.

Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice laid out Allen’s alleged plan leading up to the incident at the Washington Hilton hotel on Saturday night.

“The crimes with which the defendant is charged are among the most serious in the United States Code, and the evidence of his guilt is overwhelming,” lawyers for the DOJ wrote in a brief to the court.

In the filing to the D.C. court, lawyers said Allen engaged in extensive planning in an attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump. The president announced he would attend the correspondents’ dinner on March 2, and Allen later searched for information about the dinner on April 6 before reserving a two-night stay for April 24 - April 26 at the Washington Hilton on the same day, prosecutors said.

Leading up to the planned attack, lawyers said Allen searched various articles involving the details of the correspondents’ dinner and Trump’s planned remarks. Allen boarded a train from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., via Chicago on April 21, according to court documents.

On the train, he viewed an online article titled, ‘Trump's Plans for ‘Mic-Drop’ Media Confrontation Are Leaked: The president is planning a rage-fueled moment at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.’

Lawyers said California and federal databases confirmed Allen bought a 12-gauge pump action shotgun and .38 caliber pistol in California.

On the night of the correspondents’ dinner, April 25, Allen tracked Trump’s schedule multiple times through an online webpage, prosecutors allege. Minutes before the attack, Allen searched for live video of Trump’s arrival at the dinner, including a video showing the president exiting a car to arrive at the dinner.

Shortly after searching for the live video, an email titled “Apology and Explanation” was sent out to several family members and friends. The email appeared to rail against Trump and other members of his cabinet.

“Administration officials (not including [FBI Director] Mr. [Kash] Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” Allen wrote, authorities allege.

“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,” lawyers wrote. “It was, at its core, an anti-democratic act of political violence.”

Lawyers called for the D.C. court to consider the potential consequences if Allen was successful in achieving his desired goal, which they said was to assassinate Trump and other high-ranking cabinet officials.

“The defendant’s crimes were also premeditated and calculated to achieve his objectives,” DOJ lawyers wrote. “The defendant’s actions leading up to and on the night of April 25, 2026 were the product of at least weeks of premeditation and planning.”

The lawyers pointed to references in Allen’s message to family members and friends that he “would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary.”

Allen’s trial hearing is set for May 11.