The legal defense team for Cole Allen, alleged perpetrator from Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, apparently believes that you don’t get what you don’t ask for, so may as well ask for the moon.

In this case, the defense lawyers are asking that Cole Allen be released so that he can go home while he awaits trial. Yes, that’s right.

JUST IN: Cole Allen makes his bid for release from detention, arguing that prosecutors' evidence that he intended to assassinate Trump is weak and underscoring lingering questions about whether he fired his gun.https://t.co/vpGb1osNT6 pic.twitter.com/JtoXmU9m88

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 30, 2026

This filing comes on the heels of the federal prosecutors filing their request to hold Cole Allen until trial, where we got more details about the night in question, and a mirror selfie of the accused.

D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro filed a memorandum making the request and included a new photo of Allen with his weapons that officials say he took shortly before the attack Saturday night.

“At approximately 8:03 p.m., while back inside his hotel room, the defendant used his cellphone to take a photograph of himself in the mirror,” the memorandum states, pointing out items including a gun holster, sheathed knife, and ammunition bag in the photo. He wore a black dress shirt, black slacks, and bright red tie.

About half an hour later, authorities say, the suspect sprinted past the magnetometers and fired a shotgun blast before falling down and being restrained by officers.

According to prosecutors, on the day of the dinner, Allen left his hotel room multiple times. Around 6:26 p.m., he allegedly used his phone to check the president’s schedule on a site called CivicTracker. At 8:03 p.m., he took the selfie in the mirror, and about 10 minutes later, he visited the CivicTracker webpage again, according to the memorandum. He exited the hotel room around 8:15 p.m.

Minutes before the alleged attack, prosecutors said, Allen looked at a media outlet’s video called “WATCH LIVE: President Trump, first lady en route to White House Correspondents’ Dinner” on his phone. He then visited a website with live coverage of President Trump exiting his car for the dinner, followed by a web search for “trump white house correspondents dinner.” Around 8:30 p.m., prescheduled emails went to Allen’s friends and family with “Apology and Explanation” in the subject line.

“Shortly thereafter, the defendant rushed the screening checkpoint on the Terrace Level of the Washington Hilton with a raised shotgun,” wrote the prosecution, discarding a black coat under which he had concealed a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. He sprinted through a magnetometer and ran toward the stairs to the ballroom, shotgun in his hands.

Prosecutors said that six shots were fired — one by Allen, who allegedly fired his shotgun in the direction of the stairs leading down to the ballroom. Then, a Secret Service officer drew his service weapon and fired five times at Allen. Allen fell, injuring his knee, but he had not been shot. He was restrained by law enforcement and arrested.

“At the time of his arrest, the defendant was in possession of a Mossberg 12-gauge pump action shotgun with one spent cartridge in the barrel and eight unfired cartridges in the magazine tube,” the filing said.

Obviously, the feds do not want Cole Allen released before trial. Allen’s lawyers are doing their job by making their own appeal for his release, but… oh boy. I’m not sure if they are just a blind squirrel searching for a nut, or just filling in their document with the most banal arguments in order to fulfill their duty to give the guy an adequate defense. In either case, claiming that your client is an upstanding member of his community who has no criminal record, so he should be allowed to go home to California? I’m sorry, what???

The government’s rhetoric about a “mass shooting” is also unsupported by its own proffered facts. Mr. Allen was not alleged to be holding an automatic or even semi-automatic weapon that are the hallmarks of the modern day mass shooting. The alleged possession of a pump action of a firearm has the opposite feature of an automatic weapon that is designed to expel multiple projectiles upon a single pull of the trigger. Indeed, the government’s factual recitation—unlike in many of the firearm cases that come before the Court—does not allege facts that are typically seen in these cases, such as: 1) from where the firearm was recovered; 2) whether the
firearm was “ready to fire” with a chambered round; or 3) evidence that the recovered firearm contained an extended magazine.

Clearly, the defense team did not read the government’s filing first, or they would know the condition of the shotgun when it was found.

Importantly and directly contrary to the government’s assertions, the letter allegedly sent by Mr. Allen (currently the only evidence to support the government’s theory of his intent) announced that he wished to “minimize casualties” by using “buckshot” which would be less likely to penetrate walls than “slugs.” Exh. A. The government’s memorandum omits whether the recovered shotgun shells contained slugs (single large projectiles) or buckshot (multiple pellets). Moreover, the government after essentially asserting that Mr. Allen shot a Secret Service Officer in the criminal complaint, has apparently retreated from the theory by not mentioning the alleged officer at all in its memorandum.

Well, there’s this thing called “ballistics,” and the prosecution was waiting for that. It’s not like more charges can’t be filed against Cole Allen once all the evidence comes in. And speaking of which, the ballistics are reportedly confirming what we all assumed from the security footage that the president put out on Truth Social.

Investigators have determined that the Secret Service Uniformed Division officer was not struck by friendly fire from another member of law enforcement, the sources told NBC News on Wednesday.

Cole Tomas Allen, 31, on Saturday allegedly charged a checkpoint one floor above the Washington Hilton ballroom where the president was attending a black-tie event for the White House Correspondents’ Association.

Cole was caught on video running with a shotgun and other weapons. Officials say an officer was hit on his vest and returned fire.

The officer was taken to a hosptial but released over the weekend.

Allen was charged with discharging a weapon but has not been formally accused of assaulting a federal officer.

Yeah, methinks that some additional charges will eventually be forthcoming. But the defense team is shooting their shot, even while they acknowledge that yeah, he wrote the manifesto, and yeah, he had the knives – but he left ammunition behind, so THAT MEANS SOMETHING.

In sum, the government’s entire argument about the nature and circumstances of the offense is based upon inferences drawn about Mr. Allen’s intent that raise more questions than answers. The government focuses on the presence of four daggers and two knives at Mr. Allen’s arrest but offers no potential purpose for those weapons. And according to the government’s memorandum, Mr. Allen chose to leave nearly half of the shotgun ammunition in the hotel room (twenty rounds), as well as a third magazine – alleged facts that make little sense under the government’s theory that he intended to commit a mass shooting. The Court should find that this factor is neutral, as it relates to preventative detention.

Oh, and there’s no mention of President Trump by name in the manifesto, so as Norah O’Donnell said during her interview with Trump on Sunday, are we REALLY sure that Cole Allen intended to kill the president?

The government’s evidence of the charged offense – the attempted assassination of the president – is thus built entirely upon speculation, even under the most generous reading of its theory. While the government may be able to say that the letter expresses an intent to target administration officials, it falls well short of narrowing those officials to President Trump. This factor thus weighs in favor of release.

The manifesto quite clearly targets administration officials – we all read it – and President Trump is the head of that administration. But again, the defense tries to make Allen out to be a nice Christian man who has never been violent in his life.

As an individual who enjoys the presumption of innocence, Mr. Allen remains a U.S. citizen with a master’s degree, no prior convictions, and no prior allegations of violent conduct. He is a devout Christian who has spent countless hours with church groups for as long as family and friends can remember. He is a loved and respected teacher and colleague who has always demonstrated kindness, empathy and compassion and never violence.

Please ignore the mirror selfie of him strapped up with knives and firearms, and the security video of him bum-rushing past a Secret Service checkpoint and shooting an agent. He’s never been violent in his whole life!

And while the judge has now granted Cole Allen unrestricted access to his legal team, that same legal team is asking some very pointed questions about the prosecution.

In their filing, the defense attorneys for Allen asked for “any information as to whom the government is alleging were the targets of this incident.”

The attorneys point out that prosecutors, in a detention memorandum, reference “‘high ranking members of the U.S. government’ as the defendant’s ‘intended victims and the significant roles they play.”

They are asking the government to “identify the individuals that the government believes were the ‘targets’ and ‘intended victims.'”

They asked the prosecution to specifically “advise whether the government has ruled out Acting AG Blanche and US Attorney (Jeanine) Pirro as targets and how the government has reached that conclusion.”

In response, the government wrote, “your client is currently charged with 18 U.S.C. § 1751(c) (Attempt to Assassinate the President of the United States); he is not presently charged with committing crimes against any other individual.”

In asking whether Blanche and Pirro were intended targets, it looks like the defense is trying to plant the seeds to potentially remove them both from the case. Both Blanche and Pirro were at the dinner, but interestingly neither of them are in the presidential succession. Pirro is a United States prosecuting attorney – she’s not in the Cabinet. Blanche would be in the presidential succession, but he is ACTING Attorney General. He has not been nominated or confirmed for his role. Legally, he probably would be out of the line of succession. By focusing solely on the president, the prosecution is sidestepping that question for now. The manifesto made it abundantly clear that anyone in Cole Allen’s way was a target, because they chose to be there at the dinner and speech, but charging him with hundreds of counts of attempted murder is likely not the tactic the prosecution wants to pursue. I do think they will eventually charge him with assault and/or attempted murder of the Secret Service agent once the ballistics evidence is presented. Remember, we are less than a week from the event, which seems unbelievable, considering the evidence already at hand.

I honestly can’t imagine that a judge would grant release, or even bail, but this is Washington DC federal court we are talking about. Even a “Hail Mary” filing like this, asking for pretrial release because he’s a good boy whose family and community will totally make sure he behaves himself and comes back from California to have his day in court, runs the risk that a judge may just let him do it. And who knows what kind of jury will eventually be seated for this case? The legal inanity is just beginning.

Featured photo: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click