Story perspectives

Ex-California Man Jailed After Attempted Trump Assassination Dinner

5/2/2026

Center

Allen Attempts Assassination

Before the attack, Cole Tomas Allen photographed himself in his Washington Hilton wearing shoulder holster, ammunition bag and sheathed knife.
Cole Tomas Allen attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump at the Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, D.C., jailed pending trial.
Allen began planning in April, booked the Washington Hilton and traveled by train from California.
A Secret Service agent survived a vest shot and fired five rounds at Allen.

Left

Trump Undermines Press

Reporters Without Borders ranked United States 64th in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, a decline under President Donald Trump.
Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya ordered suspect Cole Tomas Allen to remain in federal detention pending further hearings.
The index blames Trump’s weaponisation of state agencies, cuts to broadcasters, and FCC licence-revocation threats.
Trump’s administration sued news outlets under consumer-fraud statutes, critics say to force full interview publication.

History

Historical Context

In September 1975 President Gerald Ford survived two separate attacks—Lynette Fromme’s pistol click on September 5 in Sacramento and Sara Jane Moore’s missed .38-Special shot on September 22 in San Francisco—prompting the Secret Service to tighten presidential protection. The April 2024 gun attempt on Donald Trump at the Washington Hilton by Cole Tomas Allen similarly ended with agents subduing the shooter, echoing the 1975 security reforms.

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Allen Attempts Assassination

Before the attack, Cole Tomas Allen photographed himself in his Washington Hilton wearing shoulder holster, ammunition bag and sheathed knife.
Cole Tomas Allen attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump at the Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, D.C., jailed pending trial.
Allen began planning in April, booked the Washington Hilton and traveled by train from California.
A Secret Service agent survived a vest shot and fired five rounds at Allen.

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