Washington, D.C. – US Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced a significant forensic development in the case against Cole Allen, stating that a buckshot pellet recovered from a Secret Service agent's protective vest has been definitively linked to Allen's shotgun. This evidence, Pirro indicated, strengthens the prosecution's argument that Allen intended to assassinate President Donald Trump and anyone who impeded his alleged plan during the White House Correspondents' Dinner (WHCD) at the Washington Hilton.
"It is definitively his bullet he hit at that Secret Service agent. He had every intention to kill him, and anyone who got in his way, on his way to killing the President of the United States. This was a premeditated, violent act, calculated to take down the president, and anyone who was in the line of fire." — US Attorney Jeanine Pirro
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" with anchor Jake Tapper, Pirro detailed the forensic findings. "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," Pirro stated. She emphasized that this ballistic match eliminates any ambiguity regarding whether Allen’s weapon struck the agent, asserting, "It is definitively his bullet he hit at that Secret Service agent. He had every intention to kill him, and anyone who got in his way, on his way to killing the President of the United States."
Federal authorities allege that Cole Allen, 31, traveled by train from California to Washington, D.C., carrying an arsenal that included a Mossberg pump-action shotgun, a .38 caliber pistol, and an assortment of knives and daggers. Prosecutors contend that this cross-country journey with concealed weapons indicates careful preparation rather than an impulsive act. The incident unfolded when Allen reportedly sprinted past a security checkpoint and breached the secured perimeter of the WHCD, discharging the shotgun before Secret Service agents apprehended him.
The White House Correspondents' Dinner is an annual event in Washington, D.C., known for drawing a high-profile audience including members of Congress, senior administration officials, and prominent figures from the national press corps. Prosecutors have filed three federal charges against Allen, with the most serious being the attempted assassination of a sitting US president, a charge that carries severe federal sentencing consequences.
In legal filings submitted to federal court last week, prosecutors articulated their view of Allen's alleged intent, writing that he was "willing to commit a mass shooting inside a room full of the highest-ranking officials in the US government." The ballistic evidence announced by Pirro is presented as a crucial development for the prosecution, providing a direct physical link between Allen's weapon and the alleged assault on a Secret Service agent.
Investigators have also examined social media accounts reportedly linked to Allen, finding posts that compared President Trump to Adolf Hitler and urged opponents of the Trump administration to acquire firearms. These posts, according to prosecutors, contribute to a portrait of an individual with political grievances who allegedly translated those sentiments into a calculated plan for violence at the highest levels of American government.
A federal judge has ordered Allen to be held without bail pending trial, citing him as too significant a risk to be released into the public. The case is now proceeding toward trial, with federal prosecutors armed with physical evidence, documented travel records, and a social media trail that they assert maps the motivations of an individual who planned, in their words, a premeditated act of political violence against President Donald Trump.
