Cole Tomas Allen, the man charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April, pleaded not guilty to all charges through his lawyers on Monday.
Appearing in Federal District Court in Washington, Mr. Allen was formally arraigned before Judge Trevor N. McFadden, facing four counts that included trying to assassinate the president and assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon during the annual gala at the Washington Hilton. Mr. Trump and many of his allies have cited the attack to drum up support for Mr. Trump’s plans to build a ballroom at the White House, which they say would offer a more secure venue for large events.
Prosectors say that Mr. Allen, 31, had selected the gala as an opportunity to kill a number of top officials in the Trump administration. They say Mr. Allen traveled from California to Washington with a shotgun and pistol, booked a room at the Hilton and tried to storm past security intending to kill multiple top officials all in attendance.
In evidence presented shortly after Mr. Allen’s arrest, prosecutors said he emailed friends and associates a hierarchy of targets, prioritizing Mr. Trump and his inner circle, but also including Secret Service and other law enforcement officers who might try to stop him.
The Justice Department also said Mr. Allen fired his shotgun and hit a Secret Service officer in his ballistic vest, injuring him.
Mr. Allen appeared dazed and fatigued on Monday as he walked into court bound by his hands and ankles and wearing an orange jumpsuit. He quietly listened as Judge McFadden discussed next steps in the case with the lawyers, speaking almost inaudibly when asked direct questions.
After entering the not guilty plea, Eugene Ohm, a federal public defender representing Mr. Allen, asked Judge McFadden that Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, and Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, both recuse themselves from the case. Reiterating a motion filed last week, Mr. Ohm said the two could not play any significant role in overseeing the case, as both attended the dinner and might consider themselves potential victims in the plot they say Mr. Allen had hatched.
Mr. Ohm said it would be “wholly inappropriate” for either to directly prosecute the case, but added that he did not expect the “entire chain of command” at the Justice Department to be disqualified.
Judge McFadden asked Charles Jones, a federal prosecutor, to provide the court with “some definitive view from your boss or your boss’s boss” about whether they considered themselves potential targets.
Mr. Jones said the government would submit further evidence in the coming weeks, and Judge McFadden scheduled a hearing for June 29 to assess the status of the case.
Zach Montague is a Times reporter covering the federal courts, including the legal disputes over the Trump administration’s agenda.
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