Federal prosecutors charged Cole Tomas Allen, 31, the accused gunman in the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner shooting, with three criminal counts, including attempting to assassinate the president.
Fox News reports that Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh unsealed the case against Allen on Monday. Allen appeared in federal court wearing a prison jumpsuit and answered the judge respectfully. He did not enter a plea and was only informed of the charges.
The three counts include attempted assassination of the president, transporting a firearm across state lines, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. The attempted assassination charge could carry a life sentence if Allen is convicted.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine told the court that Allen was heavily armed when he stormed the Washington Hilton Hotel, allegedly hunting for President Trump and top-level officials. She said Allen was equipped with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a .38-caliber semi-automatic pistol, and three knives.
Allen's manifesto made it clear that he had a kill list (as reported by CBS News' Jennifer Jacobs):
Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest
"Mr. Allen has no prior arrests or convictions," court-appointed defense lawyer Tezira Abe said. "He is presumed innocent at this time."
Allen will remain in custody pending a Thursday hearing to determine whether he is eligible for any form of pretrial release, according to NBC News.
Earlier today, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted the "left-wing cult of hatred" as fueling political violence in yet another failed assassination attempt on Trump.
Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing earlier that political violence against Trump "stems from a systemic demonization of him and his supporters by commentators, yes, by elected members of the Democrat Party and even some in the media."
"This hateful, constant, and violent rhetoric directed at President Trump, day after day for 11 years, has helped legitimize this violence and brought us to this dark moment," Leavitt said.
Some of that hateful rhetoric Leavitt was referring to:
If you’re wondering why 3 attempts on President Trump’s life, that we know of, have happened, it’s because of people like Tim Walz who keep saying:
“No one has ever been more dangerous to this country than Donald Trump, and he is a fascist to his core!” pic.twitter.com/4QAy7vzvcJ
Where did Charlie Kirk's murderer learn to call conservatives "fascists"?
"Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?"
Kamala Harris: "Yes, I do. YES, I DO!" pic.twitter.com/RxDjgOYjKY
Where they learned this from!
Democrats ARE the Party of Hate and of Inciting Violence. pic.twitter.com/ONhiBT5KgV
As we noted on Sunday, Allen appears to be an ordinary Democrat who has been influenced over the past decade by left-wing corporate media and radical left-wing NGOs. This toxic ecosystem created an artificial information environment in which President Trump was labeled, around the clock, as a "fascist," a "Nazi," and worse, inciting an existential crisis among vulnerable Democrats who have chosen to respond with violence.
🚨BREAKING: I found Cole Allen's archived tweets.
He predicted "Kamala wins all swing states," compared Trump's win to “Nazis getting elected,” and moved to Bluesky.
The scary part: he retweeted every mainstream Democrat on this platform.
Thread below. 👇
What radicalized him… pic.twitter.com/5VWHCZd6Rx
Meanwhile, Real Clear Politics' Paul Sperry reports:
DEVELOPING: Federal investigators are looking into a possible connection between arrested would-be Trump assassin Cole Tomas Allen and Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight Action, as well as the radical Black Lives Matter ... developing ...
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) April 27, 2026*Developing...
Tyler Durden Mon, 04/27/2026 - 15:25Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times,
The United States will ease sanctions on Venezuela to allow its regime to pay legal fees for former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. drug trafficking case, according to a court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The April 24 filing states that the U.S. Treasury Department authorized an exception to existing sanctions, permitting funds to be used for Maduro’s legal defense.
Maduro is awaiting trial on federal charges, including those related to narco-terrorism and drug trafficking.
Attorney Barry Pollack, on behalf of Maduro, said in court documents filed in February that Venezuela, under its laws, had an obligation to pay Maduro’s legal expenses. Pollack said Maduro lacked his own funds to pay for legal counsel and “is being deprived of his constitutional right to counsel of his choice.”
“Mr. Maduro, as Venezuela’s head of state, has both a right and an expectation to have legal fees associated with these charges funded by the government of Venezuela,” the February court filing stated.
If declined, the cost of Maduro’s defense would be shifted from Venezuela to U.S. taxpayers even though Venezuela was willing and obligated to pay for it, Pollack stated in his brief.
“After invading another country and forcibly bringing its sovereign head of state to the United States, the government of the United States is now actively preventing him from retaining counsel of his choice and receiving a fair defense in this Court, in violation of his Sixth Amendment and Due Process rights,” the February filing stated.
Pollack had moved to get the indictment dismissed.
The United States captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a Jan. 3 raid. U.S. President Donald Trump posted a photo to social media showing Maduro in custody while blindfolded and handcuffed aboard the U.S. Navy ship USS Iwo Jima.
According to the February filing, Maduro was being held in isolation at the Metropolitan Detention Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York City pending trial on charges that “relate to alleged conduct that occurred while he was the head of state of a sovereign nation.”
The U.S. Department of State said Maduro led the Cartel of the Suns, a drug-trafficking organization that was made up of high-ranking Venezuelan officials.
In November 2025, the State Department declared Venezuela’s Cartel of the Suns as a terror organization.
Maduro took over leadership of Venezuela in 2013 and became increasingly politically hostile toward the United States as the years progressed, according to the U.S. War Department.
Tyler Durden Mon, 04/27/2026 - 14:45