BOSTON: Attorneys for the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at a black-tie press gala last weekend asked a judge on Sunday to remove him from suicide precautions while in jail in Washington.
Cole Tomas Allen allegedly stormed a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25.
When he was initially booked into the jail facility on April 27, Allen was assigned a “safe cell,” described as a padded room with 24-hour lockdown procedures and a requirement to wear “a vest akin to a strait jacket,” according to a filing by his lawyers in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
He was then downgraded to “suicide precautions,” which means Allen could still not make phone calls, receive visits from anyone aside from his legal team, or spend time outside his cell except for legal visits or showers, with an escort, the filing states. A nurse on Friday recommended those precautions be ended, but they remained in place as of a visit by one of his public defense lawyers that day, the filing states.
Allen’s status “amounts to punishment” and denies him resources such as the use of a jail tablet, “which would permit him to communicate with loved ones outside of the jail,” the filing states.
Allen is charged with attempted assassination, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and illegally transporting guns and ammunition across state lines. He has not yet entered a plea.
Meanwhile, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said on Sunday that the government has evidence that a federal agent was shot by the suspect in custody during an alleged attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner last weekend.
“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 said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“It is definitively his bullet,” Pirro said.
Cole Tomas Allen is accused of storming a security checkpoint and firing a shotgun in the foyer leading to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25. Allen is charged with attempted assassination, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and illegally transporting guns and ammunition across state lines. He has not yet entered a plea.
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Sunday there could be more charges filed as the investigation continues.
“I expect in the next week or so, there will be more information coming out. Obviously, assuming the investigation moves forward, there will be an indictment forthcoming. And all that is typical of what happens,” Blanche said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”—Reuters
