Cole Tomas Allen Pleads Not Guilty After White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooting

Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of California, pleaded not guilty to all charges on Monday after prosecutors alleged he fired a shotgun at a US Secret Service agent and stormed a security checkpoint in a foiled attack at the April 25 White House Correspondents' Dinner at the Washington Hilton hotel in Washington, DC.

“White House correspondents' dinner suspect pleads not guilty Cole Allen is accused of trying to assassinate Trump at the April dinner in D”

ABC News

Allen entered the plea before US District Judge Trevor McFadden, and ABC News said he faces four felony counts including attempted assassination of the President of the United States, assault on a federal law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, transportation of a firearm and ammunition over state lines with the intent to commit a felony, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.

ABC News

NBC News reported that Allen was armed with multiple guns and knives when he sprinted through a security checkpoint near the event where Trump and other White House officials had gathered with journalists, and that he was arrested after an exchange of gunfire with a U.S. Secret Service officer who fired at him multiple times.

NBC News also said the officer was shot once in the chest, treated at a hospital and released, while CBS News reported Allen appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit and was shackled at the wrists and feet.

France 24 reported that Allen did not speak in court as his attorney Tezira Abe entered the plea on his behalf, and that the proceeding previewed the next major legal battle in the case involving a request to disqualify acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and US Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Allen’s defense attorneys argued they might seek to have the entire U.S. Attorney's office for the District of Columbia recused, and ABC News said the motion was based on the claim that U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro’s “very public” and “close” relationship with Trump might also play a factor in potentially recusing herself.

CNN quoted defense attorney Eugene Ohm saying, “We assume a lot about how victims feel,” and it also reported Ohm argued Pirro is “very close friends with Trump” and should be removed for that alone.

BBC

CNN further reported that McFadden said removing the entire DC US Attorney office “would be quite a request” and told prosecutors to file their response and provide a definitive view on whether Pirro and Blanche were victims.

France 24 reported that Eugene Ohm said the defense is likely to seek recusal of the entire US Attorney's Office in Washington because it would be “wholly inappropriate for victims of an alleged event like this to be individually prosecuting the case,” and it said prosecutors are set to respond to the defense's legal filing by May 22.

CBS News said Allen’s attorneys were moving to disqualify all the U.S. attorneys in the Washington, D.C., office from the case, including its top prosecutor, Jeanine Pirro, because of their status as “purported victims and witnesses in this case,” and it reported that the Justice Department was directed to respond by June 22.

The case is set to continue with a scheduled next hearing, and ABC News said Allen is due back in court on June 29 while CNN reported that the next hearing in the case is set for June 29.

NBC News said Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Jones advised the court that they plan to start producing their first tranche of discovery to the defense by the end of the week, and it described how Allen was initially charged in connection with the April 25 incident at the Washington Hilton hotel.

NBC News also reported that on Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted him on a new charge in the shooting of a Secret Service agent, and it said Allen was briefly placed on suicide watch at the Washington, D.C., jail where he’s being held.

France 24 reported that prosecutors allege Allen allegedly traveled to Washington by train, carrying a shotgun, pistol and knives, and booked a room in the Washington Hilton where the April 25 dinner took place, while The Guardian said prosecutors alleged he traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington and checked in as a guest at the Washington Hilton.

The Guardian added that the first charge carries a potential sentence of up to life in prison, and it quoted a manifesto attributed to Allen that said, “Administration officials … are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.”