OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
5:00 PM – Thursday, April 30, 2026
The suspected gunman in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) shooting, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, will remain in detention for the foreseeable future ahead of his trial.
During a federal court hearing on Thursday, the legal team for Allen informed U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya that their client would not challenge the government’s motion to keep him in custody pending trial.
While Allen consented to detention at this stage, his public defender, Tezira Abe, explicitly reserved the right to revisit the matter and request a release hearing at a later date if circumstances change.
The 31-year-old remains held in a Washington, D.C., facility on charges including the attempted assassination of the president, following the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner five days ago.
This decision by the defense ensures Allen remains detained for the immediate future as both sides begin the discovery process in the high-profile case.
Last Saturday, Allen, a part-time teacher, purportedly charged a security checkpoint and shot a U.S. Secret Service member at a black-tie dinner that President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump had attended with several administration officials.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors have labeled the attack an act of political violence, citing a manifesto Allen had apparently sent to his family members approximately ten minutes before charging the security check point.
In the message, obtained by the New York Post, Allen apologized to his family, his colleagues, his students, and anyone else he “put in danger simply by being near.”
“I am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me,” he wrote, explaining why he decided to carry out the attack. “And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes. (Well, to be completely honest, I was no longer willing a long time ago, but this is the first real opportunity I’ve had to do something about it.)”
“Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel), were targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.” Secret Service officers were “targets only if necessary,” whereas hotel security, Capitol police, and national guardsmen were “not targets if at all possible (aka unless they shoot at me).”
“I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that,” he allegedly wrote. “I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done.”
In federal court filings, prosecutors urged the judge to maintain Cole Tomas Allen’s detention by highlighting the catastrophic potential of his purported actions, arguing that a successful attack could have destabilized the entire federal government while resulting in mass casualties among guests and staff.
Conversely, the defense campaigned for Allen’s release by emphasizing his “clean” criminal record and the fact that he left nearly half of his shotgun ammunition in his hotel room. His attorneys further noted that his written manifesto did not specifically name President Trump, “suggesting a lack of targeted intent.”
Following a meeting with Allen, his legal team also requested that the court intervene to end his 24-hour solitary confinement. However, Judge Upadhyaya declined to issue such an order, stating she lacked the jurisdictional authority to dictate internal jail management.
Amidst these arguments, the government unveiled a selfie Allen purportedly took approximately thirty minutes before the disruption at the dinner. The image depicts him in a black dress shirt and red tie, equipped with a shoulder holster holding a handgun, a leather bag matching the one found with ammunition at the scene, and a belt outfitted with a knife, pliers, and wire cutters.
Allen is charged with attempted assassination of the president of the United States, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, who also attended the dinner, warned that as the trial goes on, additional charges will be added. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 11th.
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