Lawyers for suspected gunman at press dinner say he’s been in around-the-clock lockdown in jail

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN

(CNN) — The man charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump over the weekend will not fight detention as the case proceeds, his attorneys told a federal judge Thursday.

Cole Tomas Allen, who spoke little during Thursday’s hearing, is accused of rushing through a security checkpoint during the White House Correspondents’ dinner, which hosted Trump and top administration officials, on Saturday night.

Despite Allen conceding his pretrial detention, prosecutors still fought to present their argument to the judge as to why Allen should remain locked up.

“The defendant has agreed to be detained. He’s essentially conceding to your motion,” the magistrate judge assigned to the hearing,” Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya told prosecutors in denying their efforts.

“I’m denying the government’s request. It’s truly unprecedented,” the judge added.

The hearing began just after 11 a.m. ET and Allen appeared in orange prison scrubs. Lawyers for Allen previously filed a memo indicating they would dispute his detention, but did not do so at the hearing Thursday.

“We had difficulties meeting with Allen over the past couple of days,” one of Allen’s lawyers said, noting they have finally met with him. “We are conceding detention.”

Allen is set to return to court on May 11. His lawyers told the judge Thursday he is in 24/7 lockdown at the jail, which they oppose.

“When we initially went to the jail they said he should be out by now but he isn’t,” said one of Allen’s lawyers, Tezira Abe. “There is not reason, to understanding, why he should be in the safe cell. It was nothing he said or did at intake. He’s not a danger to anyone in the jail.”

Prosecutors had filed a detention memo Wednesday saying there are “no combination of conditions that will reasonably assure the community’s safety” if Allen were to be released, pointing to his extensive preparations ahead of the dinner as well as the possibility that he could have killed people and inflicted serious damage.

They called his plot one of “extreme political violence.”

“Attempted murder is always a serious crime, but when the intended victim is the President of the United States, as well as other high-ranking members of the U.S. government, the potential consequences are far reaching,” the memo said.

Lawyers for Allen, however, had previously pushed back — opposing detention in their own memo to the judge. The lawyers questioned whether prosecutors have direct evidence of their claims, particularly the allegation that Allen fired his shotgun in the direction of a Secret Service officer on Saturday evening.

“The government’s evidence of the charged offense – the attempted assassination of the president – is thus built entirely upon speculation,” they wrote in a filing arguing for his release ahead of trial.

Allen allegedly sent a note to family members outlining how he wanted to target administration officials, his social media posts and any other material that points to his potential motivation.

Another key issue in the early days of the case has been whether Allen fired his shotgun and hit the Secret Service officer who fired at the man several times and missed.

Defense attorneys have questioned whether prosecutors know if Allen fired his weapon and whether he struck the Secret Service officer.

DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose office is leading the prosecution of Allen, told Fox News on Thursday morning that Allen “fired that gun in the direction of the Secret Service officer.”

Pirro noted the officer fired five times and investigators have “found five areas consistent with being hit by a nine millimeter,” which is the service weapon officers are equipped with.

“So this Secret Service agent did not shoot himself,” Pirro concluded.

According to prosecutors, Allen traveled by train from California to Washington, DC, in the days prior to Saturday night’s event and stayed at the same hotel the dinner took place.

He was arrested before he made it into the dinner, which was on a different floor.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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