From left, US attorney for Washington, DC Jeanine Pirro, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Darren B Cox, deputy assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division, at a news conference about Cole Tomas Allen. Photo / Getty Images
From left, US attorney for Washington, DC Jeanine Pirro, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Darren B Cox, deputy assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division, at a news conference about Cole Tomas Allen. Photo / Getty Images
Attorneys for the man accused oftrying to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner said video of the incident “seems to showno muzzle flash” from a shotgun, questioningprosecutors’ claims that the suspect opened fire while running toward a ballroom where President Donald Trump was seated.
Cole Tomas Allen,who has been charged with attempting to assassinate the President at the black-tie event on Saturday night, said through his lawyers that the Justice Department had not disclosed evidence that he fired a weapon, as it alleged in court records.
Prosecutors in response disclosed new details about the investigation, including that authorities had recovered what appeared to be a buckshot pellet from the scene at the Washington Hilton.
They said the buckshot showed signs of having been fired in the direction of a Secret Service officer whose bulletproof vest was struck during the incident, but the filing stopped short of asserting that Allen shot the officer.
Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, faces up to life in prison if convicted of the attempt on Trump’s life at the annual gala.
He was also charged with transporting firearms across state lines and discharging one of them during a violent crime. The last charge has raised questions about what the ballistics evidence in the case shows and who shot at the Secret Service officer.
Public defenders for Allen on Wednesday submitted a formal request for evidence including video, witness statements and ballistics information, saying those materials could clear Allen of the charge that he fired the shotgun.
His attorneys also argued that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s public statements describing ammunition found at the scene appeared to conflict with prosecutors’ theory of the case.
Prosecutors have alleged that Allen planned his attack for weeks leading up to the gala and was tracking Trump’s movements online the night of the event.
In court filings, the Justice Department said Allen had written messages to friends, family and a former employer showing his intent to target the President and top administration officials.
US officials said Allen was armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, a handgun, multiple knives and daggers, and “enough ammunition to take dozens of lives” when he charged a security checkpoint leading to the Hilton’s ballroom.
A shotgun allegedly used by Cole Tomas Allen is said to have contained one spent cartridge. Photo / Getty Images
Early reports said that a Secret Service officer had been shot - a ballistics vest preventing serious injury - and Blanche said in the hours after the incident that Allen was believed on a preliminary basis to have shot the officer.
The same officer shot five times at Allen, who fell down but was not hit by the gunfire, according to court records.
Prosecutors said the officer, who is not identified by name in court documents, “observed the defendant fire the shotgun in the direction of the stairs leading down to the ballroom”.
He and other Secret Service officers also heard the shotgun go off, the filing says.
The shotgun had one spent cartridge in the chamber, and a preliminary review of ballistics indicated gunfire in the direction of a Secret Service officer who said he saw Allen fire the weapon, Ballantine wrote.
When investigators searched the scene, “at least one fragment was recovered ... that was physically consistent with a single buckshot pellet,” Ballantine wrote.
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