US Politics
Jeanine Pirro Cole Allen likely to face more charges after correspondents’ dinner suspect’s first court appearance
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Cole Tomas Allen, the 31-year-old California teacher turned would-be assassin, will likely face further charges in relation to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, according to former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro.
The suspect was charged Monday with the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump as federal authorities suggested an attack that disrupted one of Washington’s glitziest events had been planned for at least several weeks.
Allen appeared in court to face federal charges after the chaotic encounter Saturday that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage unharmed and guests ducking for cover underneath their tables. He was ordered to remain jailed pending additional court hearings, and faces up to life in prison if convicted of the assassination count alone.
A magistrate judge granted a prosecutor’s request to keep Allen locked up pending additional hearings. A detention hearing is set for Thursday.
Allen did not speak at length during the quick appearance, as is customary. One of his lawyers, Tezira Abe, noted that he has no criminal record.
“He also is presumed innocent at this time,” she said.
Allen invoked his constitutional right to remain silent after his arrest, but authorities say an email he sent to family members and a former employer just before the attack helps shed light on a motive.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Pirro, now the U.S. Attorney for D.C. gave a typically fiery address.
“Make no mistake, this was an attempted assassination of the president of the United States, with the defendant making clear what his intent was. And that intent was to bring down as many of the high-ranking Cabinet officials as he could.”
Pirro then reiterated that Allen will likely face extra charges in the case. Hours later, Pirro made an appearance on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, in which she accused the suspect of wanting to “kill the president.”
An FBI affidavit filed in the case Monday revealed additional details about the planning behind the assault, with authorities alleging that Allen on April 6 reserved a room for himself at the Washington hotel where the event would be held weeks later under its typical tight security.
He traveled by train cross-country from California last week, checking himself into the Washington Hilton one day before the dinner with a room reserved for the weekend.
The dinner had barely begun when officials say the Torrance, California, man tried to race past a security barricade near the cavernous ballroom holding hundreds of journalists and their guests, prompting an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents tasked with safeguarding the event.
Allen carried with him a 12-gauge pump action shotgun he bought last year and a .38 caliber semi-automatic pistol he purchased in 2023, authorities said.
“Violence has no place in civic life,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference. “It cannot and will not be used to disrupt democratic institutions or intimidate those who serve them, and it certainly cannot continue to be used against the president of the United States.”
He added: “We are investigating this matter fully, we will apply the law fairly and we will ensure that accountability is swift and certain.”
Allen was injured during the attack but was not shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say.
Questions remain about how many shots Allen fired and how many officers discharged their weapons.
Blanche said investigators believe that a Secret Service agent fired five shots and that Allen discharged his shotgun at least once. But Blanche didn’t say whether authorities have confirmed it was Allen’s bullet that struck the agent in the vest, or whether any other officers used their weapons. Blanche said ballistics experts are still examining evidence to provide more clarity on those questions.
The Justice Department charged Allen with two additional firearms counts, including discharging a weapon during a crime of violence, but the affidavit does not allege that Allen was responsible for shooting the agent.
The shooting resulted in the cancellation of the dinner, the first Trump had attended as president.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said the night was supposed to be one of joy but instead was “hijacked by a crazed anti-Trump individual who traveled across the country to assassinate the president and as many administration officials as possible.”
In his manifesto, a copy of which was included in the affidavit, Allen referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and alluded obliquely to grievances over a range of actions by the Trump administration. The rambling text moves between confession, grievance and farewell, with Allen apologizing to family members, co-workers and even strangers he feared could be caught in the violence while at the same time seeking to explain the attack.
Records reveal that Allen is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. A social media profile for a man with the same name, along with a photo that appears to match the suspect’s, shows he worked part-time for the last six years at a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students.
Voter registration records from California list Allen’s home address as his parents’ house on a tree-lined street in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Torrance, a city within the Los Angeles metro area.
No one answered the door on Sunday when an Associated Press reporter knocked. By the afternoon, several people who appeared to be law enforcement agents were canvassing the neighborhood, with one wearing an FBI sweatshirt.
A yard sign displayed at the family home supported a local judge candidate endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.
Federal campaign finance records show Cole Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and listed his employer as C2 Education, which said in a statement Monday that it was shocked to learn of the shooting and was cooperating with law enforcement.
Allen is registered to vote without a party affiliation in California and voted in the last three general elections, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, according to his profile on the social networking site LinkedIn. The small university is academically prestigious with a very low acceptance rate. He also listed his involvement there in a campus group that battled with Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship.
Allen’s profile photo on LinkedIn shows him wearing a cap and gown when graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. The photo appears to have been taken May 2025.