{"id":614197,"date":"2026-04-29T23:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/614197\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T23:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:58:09","slug":"man-charged-with-trying-to-kill-trump-took-hotel-room-selfie-before-rushing-gala-investigators-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/614197\/","title":{"rendered":"Man charged with trying to kill Trump took hotel room selfie before rushing gala, investigators say"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man charged with trying to storm the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner<\/a> and kill President Donald Trump took a picture of himself in his hotel room just minutes earlier, outfitted with an ammunition bag, a shoulder gun holster and a sheathed knife, authorities said Wednesday in a new court filing.<\/p>\n

Cole Allen wore black pants, a black shirt and a red tie as he snapped the image in his room at the Washington Hilton, where Trump and hundreds of journalists were meeting for a gala Saturday night, authorities say.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old from Torrance, California, was captured when he tried to race past security barricades near the hotel\u2019s ballroom, prompting an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents tasked with safeguarding the event, investigators say.<\/p>\n

New details emerged in a court filing made by prosecutors who want Allen to remain in custody. A hearing is set for Thursday.<\/p>\n

The government said Allen repeatedly made online checks to keep track of Trump\u2019s status that night, including live coverage of the president exiting his vehicle at the Hilton hotel. Investigators said preset emails with an \u201cApology and Explanation\u201d attachment were sent at approximately 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

\"NextThis image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice, April 29, 2026, shows Cole Tomas Allen, left, inside his hotel room, on Saturday, April 25, 2026 in Washington, using his cellphone to take a photograph of himself in the mirror. An enhanced version of the image is right. (Department of Justice via AP)<\/p>\n

Photo: <\/p>\n

\u201cHe intended to kill and fired his shotgun while trying to breach security and attack his target. Put simply, the defendant poses an uncommonly serious danger to the community if released pending trial. The defendant\u2019s lack of criminal history and other personal circumstances do not alter this conclusion,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Jones wrote.<\/p>\n

Trump, a Republican, was uninjured. A Secret Service officer wearing a bullet-resistant vest was shot in the vest and survived. <\/p>\n

Allen appeared in court on Monday and was charged with the attempted assassination of the president as authorities suggested an attack that disrupted one of Washington\u2019s glitziest events had been planned for at least several weeks. Tezira Abe, a member of the defense team, said he \u201cis presumed innocent at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, ahead of the Thursday hearing, a magistrate judge ordered a District of Columbia jail to allow Allen to have unrestricted visits with his lawyers. The attorneys complained that they hadn\u2019t been able to meet him privately.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Allen was forced to sit inside of a locked cage in full, five-point restraints, and speak over a phone \u2014 of which there is only one \u2014 to be able to confer with counsel,\u201d Abe and co-counsel Eugene Ohm said in a court filing. \u201cCounsel were forced to sit in an open lobby area with jail staff and other attorneys standing nearby who could overhear the entirety of counsel\u2019s side of the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

An FBI affidavit filed<\/a> Monday revealed other details about the planning behind the hotel assault, with authorities alleging that Allen on April 6 reserved a room for himself at the Hilton where the event would be held weeks later under its typical tight security<\/a>. He traveled by train cross-country<\/a> from California, checking himself into the hotel a day before the dinner with a room reserved for the weekend.<\/p>\n

Trump was rushed off the stage by his security team Saturday night and appeared at the White House two hours later, still in his tuxedo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re impactful, they go after you. When you\u2019re not impactful, they leave you alone,\u201d the president said. \u201cThey seem to think he was a lone wolf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man charged with trying to storm the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner and kill President Donald Trump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-614197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}