U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the government was able to determine that the suspect in the shooting outside of the White House correspondents’ dinner shot at a U.S. Secret Service agent.
“First of all, there is video of the defendant shooting at the Secret Service agent,” Pirro said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “There is also the agent who will tell you himself that he was shot at and then he returned the fire.”
More importantly, Pirro said, “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 Secret Service agent’s vest.
Speaking to CNN anchor Jake Tapper, Pirro said the suspect, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, intended to kill the agent and anyone else who got in the way of his alleged attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump.
“This was a premeditated violent act calculated to take down the president and anyone who was in the line of fire,” she said. “It was a very dangerous situation, and but for law enforcement and their quick reaction, this thing could have been much worse.”
Defense attorneys for Allen previously questioned the claim that their client opened fire, saying a video doesn’t seem to show “muzzle flash” from a shotgun.
Pirro maintained to CNN that it is “very clear” that Trump was the suspect’s intended target based on his manifesto as well as his actions, such as a selfie he took before the shooting.
At his arraignment on Monday, Allen did not enter a plea to three charges against him: attempted assassination of the president, interstate transportation of a firearm to commit a felony and discharging a firearm during the commission of a felony. He also did not speak during the hearing, except to answer basic questions from the judge.
Defense attorney Tezira Abe said Allen had no previous criminal convictions.
If Allen is convicted of the attempted assassination charge, he could be sentenced to life in prison. One firearms charge carries a potential 10-year sentence, while the other could result in a sentence of 10 years to life.
Allen on ‘suicide precautions’ in jail
In a motion filed Saturday, Allen’s lawyers asked the court to remove him from suicide precautions at the D.C. Jail.
“Mr. Allen’s placement on suicide watch and suicide precautions amount to violations of his rights under the Due Process Clause to the U.S. Constitution,” the filing said.
When he first got to jail on April 27, a member of the Department of Corrections intake team who assessed Allen didn’t note any suicide risk factors, according to the lawyers.
“Suicide precautions” were recommended, they said, and Allen was assigned to a “safe cell.” He was told this was because he had not been arrested or spent time in jail before.
When Allen was assessed the next day, he again showed no suicide indications, his lawyers said, but a nurse still recommended that he be placed on “suicide watch,” a higher designation than “suicide precautions.” Although Allen was told he would be put in a regular cell by the end of the week, he was still placed back on “suicide precautions” when he was reassessed again.
Even though a nurse recommended Allen be taken off suicide precautions on May 1, he was still on it when lawyers went to visit him, they said.
“Counsel have not seen, and therefore do not argue, that there is expressed intent to punish Mr. Allen,” his lawyers said in the filing. “Nevertheless, his placement on suicide precautions amounts to punishment where, as here, he has exhibited no indications of suicidality.”