Man charged with trying to assassinate Trump at White House dinner

Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, was charged Monday with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump after officials said he tried to force his way into the White House Correspondents’ Dinner armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives.

The case turns on intent. A mass-shooting prosecution can center on indiscriminate gunfire and the number of people endangered, but federal prosecutors said this episode crossed into attempted assassination because the evidence points to Trump as the target. Investigators said a manifesto attributed to Allen said he wanted to target Trump administration officials, and officials also cited anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on his social media accounts.

The shooting erupted Saturday night at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., as guests at the annual dinner took cover. Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and members of the Cabinet were evacuated after Allen allegedly charged a Secret Service screening checkpoint outside the ballroom. A Secret Service officer was struck by at least one round but was protected by a bulletproof vest and is expected to recover. Allen was subdued, arrested and later taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Authorities said investigators believe Allen likely traveled to Washington by train from Los Angeles, via Chicago. That detail, along with the written manifesto and the public posts, is part of the broader picture prosecutors are using to argue premeditation and a specific target, rather than a spontaneous attack on a crowded event.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Allen will also face charges including using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. She did not rule out additional terrorism charges, underscoring how prosecutors are treating the attack as both an assault on a protected official and a threat to a federal security perimeter.

The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was canceled after the shooting, and Trump said it would be rescheduled within 30 days. It was the first time he attended the event as a sitting president, making the breach at the Washington Hilton a direct test of the layered protections around the presidency and the people who cover it. The attack also revived urgent questions about political violence, crowd security and the burden placed on journalists, aides and service workers who move through the same public spaces as the nation’s leaders.