The man accused of trying to kill President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was “very lucid and clear” as he planned and attempted to execute his attack, the case’s chief federal prosecutor said Sunday.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the prosecution will be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, attempted to assassinate the president.
“This was a premeditated violent act calculated to take down the president and anyone who was in the line of fire,” Ms. Pirro said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Mr. Allen’s defense lawyers argued in a court filing last week that the government’s case is “built entirely upon speculation” and that the so-called manifesto attributed to their client never mentioned Mr. Trump by name.
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“We have a lot of evidence that indicates his intent,” Ms. Pirro said.
“Whether it was following what the president was doing, where he was going, to the day of the event at the hotel tracking on his phone is the president in the ballroom yet, has the president sat down yet, what time will dinner be served,” she said. “Clearly the president is the target.”
Ms. Pirro also said the government has confirmed that the bullet that hit a Secret Service officer during the gunfire exchange outside of the Washington Hilton ballroom where the diner was being held came from Mr. Allen’s weapon.
“First of all, there is video of the defendant shooting at the Secret Service agent. There is also the agent who will tell you himself that he was shot at and then he returned the fire,” she said.
“But more importantly, is the fact that we now can establish that a pellet that came from the buckshot from the defendant’s Mossberg pump action shotgun was intertwined with the fiber of the vest of the Secret Service officer,” Ms. Pirro said. “It is definitively his bullet.”
Ms. Pirro previously released surveillance video of Mr. Allen shooting at the Secret Service officer, who returned fire.
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The video from April 25 shows Mr. Allen enter a doorway and a police dog attempt to follow him. The K9 officer appears to have a brief conversation with Mr. Allen through the doorway before pulling the dog away.
Mr. Allen went into that room to take off a long coat that he was wearing to conceal his long shotgun, Ms. Pirro said.
“As soon as he does, he comes out like a bat out of hell to start to approach,” she said.
Ms. Pirro did not explain why the officer pulled the dog away but said her understanding is it was a bomb detection dog.
“As we get more information, we’ll be clear,” she said. “Again, it’s a fluid situation. More will come out.”
Ms. Pirro disputed conspiracy theories suggesting the assassination attempt was staged or that Mr. Allen had a mental breakdown.
“He is far from insane,” she said, describing Mr. Allen as a “brilliant” man with a master’s degree who once worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“This is a guy who had no psychotic break,” Ms. Pirro said. “He documented his trip from the west coast all the way to Chicago, all the way to Washington. And he talks about the beautiful country and the Southwest desert and the woods in Pennsylvania. And he is very, very lucid and clear.”
