Suspect Cole Thomas Allen, arrested for attempting to assassinate President Trump, on the 25th (Sat).

A California man accused of attempting a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner last weekend was charged Monday in federal court in Washington D.C. with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump.

The defendant, Cole Allen, a resident of Torrance, California, was also charged with carrying a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony and with discharging a firearm during a violent crime.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, indicated that Allen may face additional charges beyond those he was presented with in court on Monday.

"Let me be clear, this was an attempt to assassinate the President of the United States, and the defendant made his intentions clear," Pirro said. "His intention was to take out as many high-ranking cabinet officials as possible."

Allen, 31, traveled to Washington D.C. by train from his home in Southern California last weekend and checked into the Washington Hilton hotel on Friday afternoon, 24 hours before the gala.

He was carrying a long gun when he attempted to pass through a checkpoint before being apprehended by police outside the gala venue. Around 8:40 p.m., Allen "walked through" a metal detector with a "long gun," and Secret Service agents nearby heard a "loud gunshot," an FBI special agent wrote in an affidavit.

A Secret Service agent wearing a bulletproof vest "sustained a single gunshot wound to the chest," the affidavit states. The agent drew his weapon and fired at Allen, but missed and he fell to the ground, the affidavit added.

FBI agents documented that Allen was in possession of a pump-action shotgun and a .38-caliber pistol when he was apprehended. According to agents, Allen purchased both weapons from a dealer in California, the pistol in October 2023 and the shotgun in August 2025.

Allen pleaded not guilty on Monday. He is known to have drafted a manifesto indicating his intent to murder President Trump and senior members of his administration before the attack.

He had also scheduled messages to be sent to his family and former employer, which read, "I sincerely apologize for all the trouble I have caused," FBI agents recorded.

Hundreds of journalists, their guests, and other attendees were present at the event at the time.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the security response of law enforcement on the day of the incident. "Law enforcement did not fail. They acted exactly as they were trained to do," he stated.

President Trump survived being shot by a rifle from a rooftop of a nearby building by Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, and his survival, with a clenched fist, garnered significant attention.

He also narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on September 15, 2024, while golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, when Secret Service (SS) agents spotted a suspect, Ryan Wesley Raus, aiming a rifle over a fence, and responded by firing and apprehending him. Raus was sentenced to life in prison in February.

In addition, on February 22 of this year, a 21-year-old man armed with a shotgun and a gas pistol broke into the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida but was shot and killed by Secret Service agents. However, this incident was not treated as an assassination attempt.

NNP Chief Editor Hong Seong-gu / Special Dispatch for this Newspaper NNP info@newsandpost.com