Cole Tomas Allen Agrees to Remain Jailed

Cole Tomas Allen won't be getting out of jail anytime soon, but he's not challenging his detention. The 31-year-old Californian, accused of attempting to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents' dinner, told a federal judge Thursday that he's giving up, for the moment, his right to fight for release on bond, CNBC reports. "He's conceding detention at this time," his attorney Tezira Abe said, adding that Allen may revisit the issue later. The court-appointed defense team had earlier indicated that they would seek his release. Allen did not enter a plea during the brief hearing.

Prosecutors had pushed to keep Allen locked up, citing charges that include attempted assassination, transporting a firearm across state lines, and firing a gun during a violent crime. After Allen formally agreed to remain detained, Assistant US Attorney Charles Jones still asked to present evidence backing that stance. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya called the move "completely inefficient," noting prosecutors would have to do it all over again if Allen later challenges his detention. "I'm denying the government's request. It's truly unprecedented," she said.

• In a court filing Wednesday, the defense team noted that Allen never mentioned Trump by name in his writings, the AP reports. "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," they wrote.
• Prosecutors say they believe Allen fired a shotgun at least once as he attempted to storm the ballroom at the Washington Hilton, but they haven't confirmed that a Secret Service agent hit in a bullet-resistant vest was shot by Allen. Some of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's statements "indicate that the recovered ballistics evidence is inconsistent with aspects of the government's theory, evidence collected by the government and/or statements made by witnesses," they wrote, per the AP.
• Allen is being held in a safe cell under 24-hour lockdown, but his lawyers argued Thursday that he should be shifted to general population in the detention center, WUSA9 reports. They said he poses no risk to other inmates and his current status makes it hard for him to communicate with his legal team. The judge said she didn't have the authority to decide Allen's prison status.