Prosecutors probe past comments of man charged in correspondents’ dinner attack

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

Federal prosecutors plan to dig into past comments made by the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday and possibly add additional charges.

Cole Tomas Allen, a resident of Torrance, California, will face a detention hearing in the District of Columbia federal court on Thursday. Federal prosecutors are continuing to gather their evidence ahead of a formal hearing set for May 11.

Allen was charged with attempted assassination of a sitting U.S. president, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, and interstate transmission of a firearm. Allen faces a maximum of life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors allege Allen fired at least one round from a 12-gauge shotgun on Saturday. One Secret Service officer was shot in his bulletproof vest but Allen was not charged with assaulting a peace officer.

“This heroic officer who was hit fired five times at Allen, who was not shot but fell to the ground and was promptly arrested,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Monday.

Blanche said the U.S. Department of Justice is still investigating ballistics at the scene of the incident.

“We want to get that right so we’re still looking at that,” Blanche said. “As far as getting into exacting ballistics, I’m not going to do that today because it’s still being looked at and finalized.”

Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said on Monday additional charges would come against Allen beyond the three charges initally levied against him.

“There will be additional charges as this investigation continues to unfold,” Pirro said.

Investigatiors are also digging into past statements made by multiple social media accounts associated with Allen. The posts contained anti-Trump rhetoric.

“Put a traitor BACK in office, get treason like, I don’t understand why people are surprised by the US ripping itself apart,” an account believed to be associated with Allen wrote in a message last month. “I’m pretty sure that’s the expected outcome of having a traitor at the helm.”

According to the indictment filed against him, Allen referred to himself as “coldForce” in a manifesto emailed to family members before the attack. The various accounts prosecutors are digging into are labeled from a source who identifies as “coldForce.”