A 31-year-old California man accused of plotting to assassinate former President Donald Trump during a high-profile Washington DC gala has been hit with an additional felony charge, federal prosecutors announced this week. Cole Tomas Allen, a resident of Torrance, California, now faces a fourth count of assaulting a U.S. law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon, following the brazen April 25 attack at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner.
The new indictment, which was unsealed Tuesday and signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, replaces the initial criminal complaint filed against Allen last week. It comes amid ongoing public questions about the circumstances of the April 25 incident, specifically whether a wounded Secret Service officer was hit by friendly crossfire from a fellow agent responding to the threat. The officer suffered a non-life-threatening injury in the exchange of gunfire, authorities confirmed.
Allen already faced three core charges from the initial complaint: attempted assassination of the sitting U.S. president, illegal transportation of a firearm and ammunition across state lines with intent to commit a felony, and weapons violations related to discharging a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. A grand jury formally voted to indict Allen on all four counts last week, and he made his first in-person court appearance in Washington DC last week, though he has not yet entered a formal plea to the charges. He remains in federal custody as the case proceeds.
According to unsealed court documents, Allen arrived at the Washington Hilton hotel — the venue for the annual dinner — heavily armed: he was carrying a semi-automatic handgun, a pump-action shotgun, and three sharp-edged weapons when he attempted to breach a security checkpoint one level above the dinner’s basement ballroom space. When gunfire erupted, current President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, members of the presidential cabinet, and dozens of other senior White House officials were immediately evacuated from the event, while hundreds of attendees took shelter under their dining tables.
The attack has triggered a full internal review of White House and Secret Service security protocols for major public events attended by senior leadership. Background checks into Allen’s history show he is an alumnus of the prestigious California Institute of Technology, and attended a local congregation in the Los Angeles area. Federal campaign finance records also show he made a $25 donation to a Democratic PAC supporting Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Court filings also include details of a message Allen allegedly sent to his family immediately before the attack, stating that senior administration officials were pre-designated targets, ranked by their position in government. He added that he was willing to confront anyone in the venue to reach his intended targets, according to the documents. If convicted on all counts, Allen faces the possibility of life imprisonment, federal prosecutors confirmed.