Video shows Cole Allen in the Hilton gym ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Provided by: USAttyPirro
A frustrated federal judge on Monday said Cole Allen, the man charged with trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, appears to be receiving harsher treatment in prison than the defendant was treated on Jan. 6, 2021, when he attacked the criminal case.
“I can tell you, the defendant on January 6th was never placed in a five-point restraint or in a secure cell,” Judge Zia Faruqui told prosecutors during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Ms Faruqui said it was “very disturbing” and “deeply troubling” that Allen, 31, was placed on suicide watch and restrictions were imposed without being certified as a suicide risk or having a criminal record.
“Many people seem to have forgotten about January 6, but I haven’t forgotten,” Faruqui said. “Pardons erase convictions, but not history.”
Allen’s lawyer, Eugene Gene-Yong Kim Ohm, said officials at the D.C. prison placed him in a padded, secure cell, effectively putting him on 24-hour lockdown and installing constant lighting.
Allen was unable to make legal phone calls over the weekend, was unable to complete paperwork or complete legal formalities in his room, and was denied the Bible he requested, his lawyer told Faruqui.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Faruqui said, asking how the D.C. jail accommodates people who have been convicted of a crime and are held under less stringent conditions than Allen, who is being held without bail.
“This is a high-profile case,” the judge said. “I’m not living under a rock. He shouldn’t be in solitary confinement.”
“If that happens, I want to know and I want to know why,” Faruqui said.
The judge ordered prosecutors to send an email by Tuesday morning notifying them when a final decision on where Allen will be held is made.
Over the weekend, Allen’s lawyer called for him to be removed from suicide prevention measures, calling it punitive. They withdrew their claims after being told the precautionary measures had been lifted, but the judge said there were serious questions about Allen’s treatment and said a hearing on the matter would be held on Monday.
The Torrance, Calif., resident was tackled by Secret Service agents on April 25 after rushing through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton hotel on the upper level of a ballroom where Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, other senior Trump administration officials, and hundreds of journalists were dining.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said over the weekend that Allen fired a shotgun he was carrying at a Secret Service agent, but a protective vest prevented him from firing and did not seriously injure him.
—MS NOW’s Nora McKee contributed to this article.
