The alleged gunman who tried to assassinate President Donald Trump and other high-ranking administration officials at the White House Correspondents Dinner on April 25, was indicted two days later on three counts by a federal grand jury in Washington, DC. Cole Tomas Allen is charged with attempting to assassinate the president, transporting a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with the intent to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. An additional charge of assaulting an officer or employee of the United States with a deadly weapon was dropped.

But a federal judge is more concerned with Allen’s comfort in the DC jail where he is currently being held than with his crimes. District Court Judge Zia M. Faruqui apologized multiple times to the alleged shooter, calling the jail conditions “unconstitutional” and complaining that Allen is being treated similarly to the J6 defendants, even though he had not been charged with a prior offense.

Faruqui apparently chose to ignore the fact that many of the J6 defendants had not been charged with a prior crime either, or that some had not even attempted to enter the Capitol building that fateful day, much less try to assassinate the president of the United States. Rather, he dutifully appeared to embrace the illusion that all J6ers were guilty of “insurrection” and therefore deserved of any manner of ill treatment.

The judge demanded that the jail update him on its long-term plans for Allen, whom he whined was being held in his cell 23 hours a day and “without a tablet” to use for contacting family and friends.

Sadly, in today’s justice system, facts don’t seem to matter and laws are perverted to protect the guilty. But U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, said at a news conference on April 27, as reported by ABC7 News and other media outlets: “Make no mistake, this was an attempted assassination of the President of the United States with the defendant making clear what his intent was.” She said he further intended “to bring down as many of the high-ranking cabinet officials as he could. This is the kind of situation that we cannot tolerate.”

Pirro said the 31-year-old Allen “had a shotgun, a .38 semi-automatic pistol, at least 3 knives, and ‘all kinds of paraphernalia.’” Although it’s not clear whether he shot the secret service officer, he is charged with firing two rounds with his shotgun before he was apprehended by secret service agents.

The email

Allen is alleged to have traveled by train under false pretenses to the nation’s capital from his home in Torrance, California. His accusations against President Trump as spelled out in his manifesto have been widely reported, including the following diatribe:

• Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial. I’m not a schoolkid blown up, or a child starved, or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. Turning the other cheek when “someone else” is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.
•  
• I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.

The manifesto was included in an email Allen scheduled to go out to his friends and family just prior to the shooting. It is unclear whether the email contained the entire “manifesto,” or if there were two separate documents. The first three paragraphs of the email consist of apologies to his parents, neighbors, colleagues, students — he is a part-time teacher — and to those who may have been in harm’s way during his dark mission.

Allen began his email with the dubious greeting, “Hello everybody!” followed by “So I may have given a lot of people a surprise today.” Following the apologies, he then devoted six paragraphs — several of which consisted of one sentence — to describing the reasons for his actions.

The would-be assassin wrote that he’d contemplated making such a move “a long time ago,” but that this was his “first real opportunity” to “do something about it.”

The email described his “expected rules of engagement (probably in a terrible format, but I’m not military so too bad.)” He signed the missive “Cole ‘coldFace’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen.”

The teacher connection

According to published reports, Allen earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Caltech and a master’s degree in computer science from California State University. He is said to have developed one or two non-violent video games and in recent years has worked as a teacher at C2 Education. Although there has been no official confirmation of his length of tenure, ABC7 Los Angeles reported that C2 Education named him “Teacher of the Month” in December 2024.

A 25-year-old for-profit company, C2 Education specializes in personalized tutoring and college preparation programs for students ranging in age from elementary school through high school.

According to ABC7 News, the company issued a statement in the wake of the attack that read: “We were shocked to hear the news of the horrifying incident that transpired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement to assist them in their investigation. Violence of any kind is never the answer.”

C2 Education operates in 13 states across the country, including California, where Allen tutored at the Torrance location. Several of his students expressed shock that he could have been guilty of trying to kill the president. The Los Angeles Times said students described Allen as “very intelligent, proficient in biology, mathematics, and science.” They considered him a nice person, and on “the quiet side.” Other reports describe him as “average” and “unremarkable.”

Media sources say neighbors also expressed surprise and said they were “sad” for his family.

Climate of violence

There is no doubt the U.S. and the world are in the throes of a climate of violence and political assassination. Awash in leftwing political propaganda and rhetoric, young adults like Allen are becoming increasingly bold and believe they are justified in their radical actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the education environment at all levels. Teachers’ unions put radical left activism above teaching academics. University professors and administrators thwart every attempt by the Trump Education Department and conservative state education officials to impart some semblance of fairness, decency, and morality in higher education. They maintain their far-left policies, such as DEI, often hiding them in order to continue receiving federal funds.

Research from Defending Education shows that a combination of national, state, and local teachers’ unions have directed “more than $1 billion in total political spending toward left-wing political groups, advocacy organizations and campaigns since 2015.” Training programs, literature, and instructional videos churned out by union leadership are influencing the teachers who propagandize children in the nation’s classrooms, often unbeknownst to parents.

Defending Education’s research director, Rhyen Staley, told Fox News last month: “Gone are the days of unions just advocating for higher wages, better working conditions, and good health insurance; they are a political machine focused on fomenting a ‘political revolution.’”

Although Allen may not have been directly influenced by the teachers’ unions, family members told authorities that he “was prone to making ‘radical statements’ and often spoke about wanting to fix what he saw as problems in the world.” Authorities say he had “purchased multiple firearms years earlier and stored them at his parents’ home.”

The Standing for Freedom Center, which according to its web page “exists to uphold the Christian faith and defend America’s Constitution,” wrote that Allen’s manifesto not only raged against the Trump presidency, but also “expressed pointed anti-Christian hatred....” The website noted: “His posts on the left-wing platform BlueSky demanded Trump be removed from office and tried for ‘high crimes.’ Cole attended at least one ‘No Kings Protest,’ and he had documented ties to a progressive activist group called ‘The Wide Awakes.’”

While described as a political “independent,” he contributed to Kamala Harris’s campaign in 2024.

Conflict of interest?

Allen has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him, starting with the attempt to assassinate President Trump. CNBC reported that his defense attorneys filed a motion to “disqualify acting attorney general Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro,” claiming a conflict of interest, since they were present at the dinner and “have given the impression that they are victims in the case.”

Appearing on Fox News Anchor Harris Faulkner’s show on May 11, former House Speaker, Newt Gringrich, called the move to disqualify Pirro and Blanche an attempt on the part of Allen’s lawyers to “play games,” to “maneuver and manipulate the truth.”

He explained: “We have video coverage of this guy and a pretty good idea of who he is and what he did, but we’ll get a song and dance and appeals that’ll take years. We need a whole new approach to our legal system, because it lends itself to exactly this type of gameplaying, which is nonsense.”

Gingrich observed that the attorneys’ reasoning for disqualifying Blanche and Pirro would necessarily disqualify all 2,800 people who were present in the room, which he again dismissed as “gameplaying,” and “nothing to do with justice” or “the law.”

It remains to be seen whether this ploy by the defense will be effective.

Allen is expected to appear in court again on June 29, and could face up to life in prison if convicted.

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