Cole Allen, the man accused of trying to assassinate the president of the United States, Donald Trump, during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, planned the attack for weeks, crossed the country by highly armed train and stayed at the event’s hotel to evade security, according to the prosecutor’s office detailed this Wednesday.
Allen, a 31-year-old teacher living in California, faces charges in Federal Court in the District of Columbia for attempted assassination of the presidenta crime that could carry a life sentence, in addition to two others related to the possession of weapons (discharge of a weapon related to a violent crime and interstate transportation of weapons)
The accused will appear this Thursday at a hearing in which The judge must decide the precautionary measures while the judicial process takes place.
Weeks of planning
In a memorandum in which she requests preventive detention without bail, the District of Columbia prosecutor, Jeanine Pirro, details that Allen prepared the attack on April 25 for several weeks.
Trump announced on March 2 that he would attend the Correspondents’ Dinner for the first time as president of the White House, an event with more than 2,000 guests, including members of the Government, journalists, diplomats and businessmen.
According to the writing, Allen visited the event’s website on April 6 from his mobile phone and, less than two hours later, booked two nights at the hotel where it was being held.the Washington Hilton, with arrival the day before and departure the next day.
On April 21, he embarked on a long-distance train trip from Los Angeles to Washington.with a transfer in Chicago, on a journey of almost three days, since he avoided flying to avoid airport controls.
The accused crossed the country from coast to coast with several weapons: a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun, a .38-caliber Rock Island Armory pistol, ammunition, two knives and four daggers.
Allen checked into the hotel at 3:15 p.m. the day before dinner.
The failed attack
On the day of the event, only guests and guests were allowed into the hotel, so Allen was already inside.
Trump and the first lady, Melania; Vice President, JD Vance; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson; and several members of the Government, such as the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, attended the gala, whose programming began at 8:00 p.m. and was broadcast on television.
The accused searched on the cyber internet on several occasions for the president’s schedule that day. and, at 8:03 p.m., he took a selfie, armed, in front of the mirror in his room, about 30 minutes before the shooting.
He was wearing a black shirt and pants, a red tie, and was carrying a small bag with ammunition, a shoulder holster, a sheathed knife, and tools such as pliers and wire cutters.
After 8:30 p.m., he ran at high speed, evaded the metal arch of a security guard and headed towards the stairs that lead to the ballroom, where he fired a shotgun.
Secret Service agents responded with five shots and Allen fell to the ground and was subdued.resulting in a knee injury, although he did not suffer gunshot wounds.
The incident left no victims, although the sound of gunshots caused the evacuation of Trump, the first lady and members of the Government, in addition to unleashing panic among those attending.
“Apologies” and the cell phone
According to the court file, minutes before the attack, Allen scheduled several emails in which he apologized to family, friends and people he put at risk.including hotel employees.
In those messages, he justified his action by stating that was “not willing to allow a pedophile, rapist and traitor” to continue committing “crimes,” in reference to the president.
He also indicated that his targets were members of the Trump Administration, not including FBI Director Kash Patel, an exclusion for which he offered no explanation.
He maintained that the guests were not his target, although He assured that he was willing to “cut through most people” if “absolutely necessary,” since, as he said, they “chose to attend” Trump’s speech.
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