A video still shows Cole Allen in the gym at the Hilton before the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Courtesy: usattipiro
An irritated federal judge said Monday that it appears Cole Allen, accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, has been treated more harshly by the prison than defendants have been treated in criminal cases dating back to Jan. 6, 2021.
“I can tell you that I do not have any defendants as of January 6 who have been placed under a 5-point restraint or in a secure cell,” Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui told prosecutors during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Faruqi said he found it “extremely disturbing” and that he was “deeply troubled” that Allen, 31, was placed on suicide watch and placed under restrictions without any criminal history and without concluding that he was at risk of suicide.
“It seems like a lot of people have forgotten about January 6, but I haven’t,” Faruqui said. “Forgiveness erases the conviction but does not erase history.”
Allen’s attorney, Eugene Jean-Young Kim Ohm, said D.C. jail officials placed Allen in a secure, padded cell, essentially on 24-hour lockdown, with the lights on constantly.
The lawyer told Faruqui that Allen was told he could not make legal calls on the weekend, could not do paperwork or legal work in his room, and was refused a Bible he requested.
“It makes no sense,” Faruqui said, asking how the D.C. jail holds people who have been found guilty and have less restrictive conditions than Allen, who is being held without bond.
“This is a high-profile case,” the judge said. “I don’t live under a rock…. He shouldn’t be in solitary confinement.”
“If it’s going to happen, I want to know it, and I want to know why,” Faruqui said.
The judge ordered prosecutors to send him an email by Tuesday morning informing him when a final decision would be made on where Allen would be detained.
Over the weekend, Allen’s lawyers sought to remove him from suicide precautions, calling them punitive. He dropped that request after being told the precautions had been lifted, but the judge said a hearing on the issue would take place on Monday, saying he had serious questions about Allen’s treatment.
The Torrance, California resident was tackled by Secret Service officers on April 25 after escaping through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton Hotel, one floor above the ballroom where Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and other top Trump administration officials were dining with hundreds of reporters.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said over the weekend that Allen fired the gun he was carrying at a Secret Service officer, whose protective jacket stopped the bullet from seriously injuring him.
—MS Now’s Nora McKee contributed to this article.