{"id":219931,"date":"2026-05-04T23:01:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/219931\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T23:01:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:01:24","slug":"judge-apologizes-to-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting-suspect-cole-allen-over-jail-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/219931\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge apologizes to White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen over jail conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

A DC federal judge apologized Monday<\/a> to the man accused of trying to assassinate President Trump and his top aides at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner, saying the suspect\u2019s jail conditions are too harsh.<\/p>\n

US Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui told alleged wannabe killer Cole Allen, 31, he was sorry that the suspect had been held under suicide watch <\/a>despite a mental-health exam finding he did not pose a threat to harm himself, according to Politico.<\/p>\n

Cole Allen sits in the courtroom during a hearing after being charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump on April 30, 2026. REUTERS<\/p>\n

US Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui (here at a debate in November) told Cole Allen, 31, he was sorry that the suspect had been held under suicide watch. The Washington Post via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Faruqui said it was the court\u2019s job to make sure Allen was jailed responsibly and fairly \u2014 and that the accused killer was \u201cbeing treated differently than anyone I\u2019ve ever observed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you\u2019ve been through, I apologize for the prior week,\u201d the judge told Allen,\u00a0according to a\u00a0report by USA Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The move prompted furious US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro to tweet<\/a>, \u201cWelcome to Washington, DC, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Faruqui believes a defendant armed to the teeth and attempting to assassinate the president is entitled to preferential treatment in his confinement compared to every other defendant.\u201d <\/p>\n

Prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine had argued that the FBI recommended the measure because Allen told agents after his apprehension April 25 that \u201che did not expect to survive the attempted\u00a0assassination\u00a0of the president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tony Towns, a lawyer for the DC lockup, said Allen was in an isolated cell because of \u201congoing\u201d psych exams and that the decision to keep him there was made by medical staff at the facility.<\/p>\n

But Faruqui said he didn\u2019t think Allen\u2019s statement in custody meant he planned to kill himself but rather that he expected to be shot during his assault on the black-tie soiree at the Washington Hilton hotel.<\/p>\n

Allen takes a selfie with weapons before the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner. US Attorney for the District of Colombia\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Allen under arrest at the Washington Hilton. @REALDONALDTRUMP \/ TRUTH SOCIAL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s lawyer, Eugene Jeen-Young Kim Ohm, also informed the judge that Allen had been held in a padded cell and was on what amounted to 24-hour lock down,\u00a0CNBC reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ohm said Allen wasn\u2019t allowed to make a call to him, was barred from having any court records in his cell and wasn\u2019t even allowed to have a Bible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just doesn\u2019t add up,\u201d Faruqui said, as he noted people convicted of more serious crimes were held in less restrictive conditions than Allen was being held in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should not be in solitary confinement,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

Faruqui ordered the feds to update him by Tuesday morning about where Allen will be held going forward and said he\u2019d need justification for any decision to tighten restrictions on him in jail.<\/p>\n

Allen wrote in a manifesto that he wanted to kill President Trump and members of his cabinet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the jail\u2019s first go-around with people engaged in alleged political violence,\u201d the jurist said, referring to the dozens of Trump supporters held there in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s lawyers had requested Monday\u2019s hearing but asked for a cancellation Sunday, noting their client had been finally removed from suicide watch.<\/p>\n

Judge Faruqui declined to\u00a0scrap\u00a0the hearing, citing \u201cgrave concerns\u201d about Allen\u2019s treatment.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s lawyers had claimed their client was \u201cescorted to the shower,\u201d stripped searched any time he came into or left his cell and was made to wear a padded vest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese conditions are excessive restrictions on his liberty that serve no justifiable purpose and deprive Mr. Allen of dignity while incarcerated,\u201d Allen\u2019s team wrote at the time.<\/p>\n

The Torrance, Calif. native <\/a>is charged with attempting to assassinate the president, transporting a firearm and ammunition across state lines with intent to commit a felony, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.<\/p>\n

He has yet to enter a plea and faces up to life in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n

-Additional reporting by Ryan King<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A DC federal judge apologized Monday to the man accused of trying to assassinate President Trump and his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[83162,4234,9,11,10,87,3980,58,5561],"class_list":["post-219931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-2026-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting","tag-judges","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-shootings","tag-us-news","tag-white-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}