Cole Tomas Allen, Torrance man accused of trying to kill Trump at press gala, to remain jailed until trial

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Cole Tomas Allen, the 31-year-old Torrance man charged with trying to kill President Trump at last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Assn.dinner, will remain in federal jail pending trial.Allen agreed to his ongoing detention during a brief hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

“He’s conceding detention at this time,” one of his federal public defenders, Tezira Abe, told Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya, according to CNBC.He did not enter a plea during the hearing, according to the Associated Press.Allen’s other public defender, Eugene Ohm, and Abe had argued in a filing Wednesday for Allen’s pretrial release, citing his lack of a criminal record, family support and ties to his church, as well as inconsistencies and weaknesses they allege exist in the government’s case against him.Abe and Ohm did not respond to a request for comment following the hearing.In addition to trying to kill Trump, a terrorism-related charge that carries a potential life sentence, Allen faces two firearms charges related to his allegedly transporting two guns across state lines as he traveled from California to Washington by Amtrak train, and allegedly discharging one of those firearms — a shotgun — during the incident.In arguing for Allen’s release in their Wednesday filing, his attorneys not only insisted he was no danger to the community, but questioned the government’s reasoning and evidence for the charges against him.Allen was captured on a hotel video camera sprinting past U.S.Secret Service agents and into the secured event space a floor above the dinner while armed, according to prosecutors, with the shotgun, a pistol and various knives.

He then fell to the ground and was detained, according to prosecutors.Trump administration officials who were at the dinner, including acting Atty.Gen.

Todd Blanche and Jeanine Pirro, the U.S.attorney for D.C....