Trump Assassination Attempt Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

Cole Tomas Allen, the 31-year-old California man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents Association dinner last month, entered a not guilty plea Monday in federal court in Washington.

Allen appeared before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden wearing an orange jumpsuit and shackled at the wrists and feet. He did not speak during the brief hearing. His attorney entered the plea on his behalf to all four counts, which include attempted assassination of the president, assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon, and two firearms offenses. The most serious charge carries a potential life sentence.

Prosecutors allege that Allen traveled by train from California to Washington and checked into the Washington Hilton hotel the night before the April 25 event. As the dinner was getting underway, they say he rushed a security checkpoint above the ballroom carrying a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a pistol and at least three knives. In the confrontation that followed, Allen fired at a U.S. Secret Service agent, striking the officer once in a bullet-resistant vest. The agent returned fire but Allen was not hit. Agents subdued him before he could reach the staircase leading to the ballroom where Trump, Vice President JD Vance, cabinet members and more than 2,500 journalists had gathered.

An FBI affidavit quotes from a message Allen allegedly sent to family members shortly before the incident, describing Trump as a “pedophile, rapist, and traitor” and listing administration officials as targets. The message also appeared to anticipate the disruption, with Allen writing that he might have given people “a surprise.”

Allen’s defense team used Monday’s appearance to press a motion seeking to remove Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro from the case. Both officials were at the dinner when the shooting occurred. Defense attorneys argued that their status as potential witnesses or victims creates an unavoidable conflict of interest and that it would be inappropriate for victims to oversee the prosecution. They signaled they may seek to disqualify the entire U.S. attorney’s office in Washington. Judge McFadden did not rule immediately but asked for further briefing on the scope of the request.

The case is one of the highest-profile prosecutions involving threats to a sitting president in recent years. It has already prompted questions about security arrangements at large media and political gatherings and about how federal prosecutors handle cases in which senior Justice Department officials could be called as witnesses. Allen is scheduled to return to court for a status conference on June 29.