In the photo, the defendant was wearing a black dress shirt, black slacks, and a red necktie tucked into his pants. An enhanced version of the image (below right) shows that the defendant was also wearing a small leather bag that was consistent with the bag filled with ammunition later recovered from his person (item 1), a shoulder holster (item 2), a sheathed knife that was similar to one of the knives later recovered from his person (item 3), and pliers and wire cutters that were later recovered from his person (item 4).
Source: United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Cole Thomas Allen took a selfie photo in his Washington Hilton hotel room about a half-hour before he walked past a security checkpoint with several guns and tried to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Saturday night, federal prosecutors said in a court filing Wednesday.
Allen’s photo, which is in the filing, shows him wearing a small leather bag that is similar to the bag filled with ammunition later recovered from him, a shoulder holster, a sheathed knife that appears to be one of the knives later recovered from him “and pliers and wire cutters that appear to be similar to those later recovered from him,” the filing said.
Prosecutors included the photo, as well as pictures of the guns and knives Allen was allegedly carrying on Saturday to argue he should be detained without bond.
A detention hearing for the 31-year-old California resident is scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Allen was captured by Secret Service officers on Saturday before he could run down the stairs of the ballroom, where Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and other top Trump administration officials were attending the annual media soirée.
“Had the defendant achieved his desired outcome, he would have brought about one of the darkest days in American history,” prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office wrote in the filing.
The filing states, “The defendant traveled across the country with the express purpose of killing the President of the United States. Armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, a .38 caliber pistol, two knives, four daggers, and enough ammunition to take the lives of dozens of people, the defendant was captured by (U.S. Secret Service) officers along with other members of the Cabinet mere feet from the ballroom where his primary target was located.”
“This was a well-planned attack of immeasurable malice that put hundreds of lives at risk, whose only crime was attending an annual event celebrating the media and featuring the President of the United States,” prosecutors wrote. “This was fundamentally an undemocratic act of political violence.”
Allen has been charged with attempting to assassinate Trump, transporting a firearm or ammunition in interstate commerce and discharging a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.