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Courts

White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting Suspect Pleads Not Guilty in Federal Court

A grand jury had indicted Cole Tomas Allen on four charges, including attempting to assassinate the president, stemming from the incident last month in D.C.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche

The suspect’s legal team last week urged the court to bar top Justice Department officials, including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, center, from participating in the prosecution of the case because they were present during the attack. Francis Chung/POLITICO/AP

By Jenna Monnin

May 11, 2026 11:24 AM

Cole Tomas Allen pleaded not guilty on Monday to all four charges against him, including attempting to assassinate President Trump and other weapons violations. Allen is accused of perpetrating the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last month.

Allen, 31, appeared in a Washington federal courthouse for his arraignment Monday morning and was represented by public defender Tezira Abe. Allen did not speak during the hearing, and Abe entered the plea on her client’s behalf.

Allen’s legal team last week urged the court to bar top Justice Department officials, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, from participating in the prosecution of the case because they were present during the attack. The motion argued that Pirro and Blanche could be considered witnesses or victims because they were in the “zone of danger” and should be disqualified from being involved in the case.

Law enforcement officials say Allen rushed a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton on April 25 during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and fired several gunshots, including one that officials say injured a Secret Service agent, before being subdued by law enforcement. The indictment says Allen attempted to storm the event with several firearms, which prompted the evacuation of the president and other senior Trump administration officials. The approximately 2,500 attendees of the dinner took shelter under tables and behind chairs as the chaos unfolded.

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Trump said Allen “looked pretty evil” and called him a “sick person” at a press conference hours after the attack. Allen, a California resident, was also charged with transporting a firearm with the intent to commit a felony.

Allen sent a “manifesto” to his family just minutes before the attack, a White House official told NOTUS in April. The suspect also posted “a ton of anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric” on his social media, according to the White House.

If convicted of the charges, Allen could face life in prison.