Prosecutor lays out evidence against man accused of trying to kill Trump at correspondents’ dinner
The man accused of trying to kill President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was “very lucid and clear” in planning and attempting to carry out his attack, the lead federal prosecutor in the case said Sunday.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the prosecution will be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, attempted to assassinate the president.
“This was a premeditated violent act intended to bring down the president and anyone in the line of fire,” Ms. Pirro said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Mr. Allen’s defense lawyers argued in a court filing last week that the government’s case was “based entirely on speculation” and that the so-called manifesto attributed to their client never mentioned Mr. Trump by name.
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“We have plenty of evidence pointing to his intent,” Ms. Pirro said.
“Whether it was tracking what the president was doing, where he was going, up to the day of the event at the hotel, tracking on his phone if the president was already in the ballroom, has the president sat down yet, what time will dinner be served,” she said. “Obviously the president is the target.”
Ms. Pirro also said the government had confirmed that the bullet that hit a Secret Service officer during the exchange of gunfire outside the Washington Hilton ballroom where the restaurant was held came from Mr. Allen’s gun.
“First of all, there is a video of the defendant shooting the Secret Service agent. There is also the agent who will tell you himself that he was shot, and then he shot back,” she said.
“But more importantly, we can now establish that a pellet from the buckshot in the defendant’s Mossberg shotgun was intertwined with the fiber of the Secret Service officer’s jacket,” Ms. Pirro said. “It’s definitely his ball.”
Ms. Pirro previously released surveillance video of Mr. Allen shooting the Secret Service officer, who returned fire.
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The April 25 video shows Mr. Allen enter through a door and a police dog attempts to follow him. The K9 officer appears to have a brief conversation with Mr. Allen through the doorway before leading the dog away.
Mr. Allen entered that room to take off the long coat he was wearing to hide his long hunting rifle, Ms. Pirro said.
“As soon as he does, he comes out like a bat from hell to start approaching,” she said.
Ms. Pirro did not explain why the officer chased the dog away, but said her understanding was that it was a bomb-detecting dog.
“As we get more information, we will be clear,” she said. “Again, it’s a fluid situation. More things will come out.”
Ms Pirro disputed conspiracy theories suggesting the assassination attempt was staged or that Mr Allen was suffering a nervous breakdown.
“He’s far from crazy,” she said, describing Mr. Allen as a “brilliant” man with a master’s degree who once worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“This is a guy who hasn’t had any psychotic breaks,” Ms. Pirro said. “He’s documented his journey from the West Coast to Chicago, to Washington. And he talks about the beautiful country, the desert Southwest and the woods of Pennsylvania. And he’s very, very lucid and clear.”
