The gunman who crashed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April is now being charged with attempted terrorism.
US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro’s office announced Friday that a federal grand jury handed down a terrorism charge for 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen.
Allen was previously charged with attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, as he ran past the Secret Service checkpoint and traded fire with Secret Service agents stationed outside the annual media dinner at the Washington Hilton.
President Donald Trump was seated at the head table.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Allen ‘attempted to kill the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.’
Allen was also charged with assaulting an officer or employee of the United States with a deadly weapon, transporting a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with the intent to commit a felony and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Allen’s assault could be heard from within the ballroom and sent journalists and their guests scurrying under tables.
The President and First Lady Melania Trump were whisked to safety.
White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, seen on the floor of the Washington Hilton in the immediate aftermath of the attack, is now facing a terrorism charge, determined by a federal grand jury
President Donald Trump (right), First Lady Melania Trump (center) and now former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt (left) are photographed at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April before the gun attack
As was Vice President JD Vance.
A Secret Service agent was struck in the chest with the buckshot from Allen’s Mossberg Maverick 88 12-gauge pump-action shotgun.
The agent was treated at the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
Trump later held an impromptu press briefing from the White House podium that night, promising reporters that he would attend the dinner again.
A make-up dinner was held in late July, but at a different Washington, DC, hotel.
The terrorism charge means that Allen is now facing five counts.
He previously pleaded not guilty to all charges.
He pleaded not guilty to the terrorism charge on Friday.
This image, contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice, shows Cole Tomas Allen inside his hotel room, on Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington, using his cellphone to take a photograph of himself in the mirror
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner takes place annually in the grand underground ballroom of the Washington Hilton. This year’s makeup dinner was moved to the Waldorf Astoria in the aftermath of Allen’s attack
President Donald Trump calls on a reporter during an impromptu press conference from the White House briefing room in the aftermath of the White House Correspondent’s Dinner shooting
NBC News reported that since there’s no federal domestic terrorism statute, Allen was charged under a local DC law.
Pirro’s office is unique in that it can prosecute federal crimes as well as local crimes involving adult defendants.
Allen’s next day in court will be December 4 for a status conference.
A jury trial is scheduled for September 7, 2027.
