MAJOR Updates in WHCD Shooter Trial

Añadido: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]Well, we saw the headlines. We saw the arrest that clearly blew up all of our timelines. So, let's break down what the next steps are and what is actually going to happen in a court of law in terms of the person that's been charged with the attempted assassination of the president. Hi, I'm Melba Pearson, also known as the resident legal diva. And I'm here with another triple threat with my two amazing sisters, Kelly Heimman and Judge Ashley Wilcott. And we going to break this all down. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe to Legal AF for all things at the intersection of law and politics. And be sure to follow each of us on YouTube, Substack, and socials because we always love to give our own spin on things. And I think you guys might like it, too. So, as we know, Cole Thomas Allen, a 31-year-old part-time tutor out of Torrance, California, was arrested for the attempted assassination of the president at the White House correspondents dinner. Now, this was on Saturday, April 25th, and he had already had his initial hearing this week. And so he's facing three charges. Attempted assassination of the president, transportation of a firearm in interstate commerce, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. So let's start off. What do we think of these charges? Do we think that they can stick? And are all the elements, you know, are we is the prosecution going to be able to meet all of these elements? Kelly, I'll start with you and hop on over to the judge.

[00:01:41]These are serious allegations and it's important to remember that these are allegations. In a court of law, no matter who you are, you are innocent until they prove you're guilty and ultimately that's going to be up for a jury to decide. So, it's really important that the viewers are aware. We just can't say, "Oh, yes, he, you know, actually did this or he, you know, did not do this. Let's see how this plays out." But was the intent there? That is, I think, one of the key things for the government. Was that specific intent?

[00:02:19]Did he intend in fact to assassinate the president or did he intend to get someone in Trump's administration or did he not have that intent at all? I think that's going to be really key for the prosecution to um prove their case.

[00:02:37]We're going to have to see what evidence they have as we're learning new information each day.

[00:02:43]>> Literally, it's like second by second.

[00:02:45]But judge, what are your thoughts on this?

[00:02:48]>> It's second by second. I agree. The intent is sometimes difficult to prove.

[00:02:52]But I will say this, we have a glimpse into what we expect the evidence might be because the Justice Department, as both of you ladies know, filed a 20page detention memo. And in that memo, they include what was allegedly seen of this defendant and what he allegedly did, presumed innocent. But for instance, and this is quoted from that memo, that Cole intended to fire uh excuse me, intended to kill and fired his shotgun while trying to breach security and attack his target. Well, to me that means if that is evidence that bears out, he shot his shotgun as he was going through the metal detectors. But that wasn't where President Trump was. He was already inside the correspondence dinner, seated up at the front table. So that's where I think it's going to get tricky to prove that intent.

[00:03:50]>> Yeah. And I think one of the most critical pieces of evidence to all of this will be the manifesto, quote unquote, as well as any social media posts, uh, statements he made to family and friends, because as we saw with the Charlie Kirk case, uh, the statements that Tyler Robinson is alleged to have made to his roommate indicating his state of mind and what his intentions were in terms of, you know, attacking Charlie Kirk. We have a similar situation here and also thinking Luigi Manion which I'm going to I'm going to go here and then I'm going to go back.

[00:04:23]I'm reading a lot on the interwebs on socials. Folks are comparing um this defendant to Luigi Manion. Uh false equivalents or not? Judge >> I got to back to Kelly.

[00:04:38]>> Yeah, I just got to jump in and say it's such a different scenario. The only similarities I see are an individual accused of targeting a person and shooting them or at them with a gun. One was murdered, the other was not.

[00:04:55]Thankfully, no one was hurt at the correspondence dinner. But there are two totally based on the allegation set of situations, right? One is outside shooting at a CEO, corporate America.

[00:05:09]The other is shooting at a public servant, the highest public servant.

[00:05:12]many would argue the worst offense you could ever commit attempting to shoot the president if that's what the evidence bears out. And so Melo, to me, I I don't see I don't see exactly how people think the two are similar unless there are going to be people holding them both out as heroes because as you know, Luigi Manion has a huge following of people calling him a hero.

[00:05:37]Yeah, that that's what I'm thinking the similarity is in people's minds. Like, oh, you know, Luigi Manion is doing this to make a statement against a corrupt health care system. And maybe, and this is, listen, again, this is what I'm reading. This is not my viewpoint in any way, shape, or form. And I don't believe that reflects the viewpoints of any of us here. But I I think there's a thought process that you know th this defendant Cole um is uh Cole Thomas Allen is in some ways like you know trying to fight back against what he believes to be a corrupt system and so he took this action. Kelly, what are your thoughts on that?

[00:06:18]>> Violence is not the solution. So if that's the the case of if he if he truly believes that then we live in a wonderful country then exercise your fundamental right and get out there and vote. If you're not happy with the system then get out there, let your voice be heard and vote. We have election coming up in November. We have the president election um coming up in 2028. Get out there, use your fundamental right, and please vote. And just make sure right now that you are registered. Go online and check and see and let your voice be heard in the battle box. I am a strong supporter of Martin Luther King and and believe that the peace is is the way and violence is not a solution. The ends don't justify the means. Absolutely.

[00:07:20]>> Ever. Melba, could I add one thing to that? And that is when you mention the social media posts when we are talking about Cole Allen, the defendant who's charged with attempting to shoot President Trump. You know, there are posts that they've included in this detention memo that show him, allegedly show him if it's not a fake, which I don't think that it is. and he's got a long gun. He's got a knife. He's got two more guns. They're they're covering his body. All these different weapons. And so I will say just in the comparison, Luigi Manion, you know, that I know of didn't post any social media like that that's showing him with his weapons. But any of that, to Kelly's point, um violence is not the answer for any of it.

[00:08:09]>> Absolutely. Absolutely. So, we've already kind of talked about the prosecution side, but I don't think the defense is over going to be over here sitting on their hands, right? I I think they have some things to work with. So, share your thoughts on what you think will be some of the strongest defense arguments. I mean, I'm going to throw out there that I think mental health may be a good one in terms of, you know, I believe in the manifesto he refer one of his post he referred to himself as like your friendly federal assassin or something that doesn't sound like somebody who, you know, it might be he sounds like one fry short of a happy meal. You know what I'm saying? Like, and this is not to make light of mental health, let's be clear. But, but the way that he's phrasing it like that, I don't know. That's not smacking up to me of somebody with very serious intent, but again, I could be wrong. So, Kelly, your thoughts and then over to you, judge.

[00:09:05]>> I agree with you that mental health could potentially be an issue and I could definitely see his, you know, public defender making sure that he gets evaluated and making sure that he is adequately represented as well. But I go back to the point of um I could see the def defendant poking holes at the prosecution's case of of saying that they did not meet their their burden that they did not prove every single element of of the crime. I think that those are going to be the two key things that I can see coming coming out of this matter.

[00:09:40]>> Yeah. Judge, your thought?

[00:09:42]>> Yeah. So, when we talk about how you defend a person accused of a crime like this, everybody needs to remember a defense attorney is there to protect all of our constitutional rights because it's not just about that one defendant who's named. It's about all of our rights and that slippery slope. If you don't follow them for one person, all of a sudden, none of us have those rights.

[00:10:04]And so, I commend defense attorneys who can represent criminals. I've never done it. I don't plan to do it. Knock on wood. I don't know how to do it well, but I've watched lots of criminal trials. And there are different pieces of this that I think the defense can attack. So, first of all, social media images or any of them enhanced. One of them that's been put out on social media said that it was enhanced. So, they're going to have to have investigators, etc. in my opinion hired to figure out which of these are accurate, not AI enhanced, and which of these are not.

[00:10:36]Number one. Number two, then you're going to look at each piece of what he did, and I would do it to say it wasn't premeditated. So, for instance, in um the detention memo that Department of Justice put out, they talked about things like this is the stop where he got on, where he rode to the location of the correspondence dinner, and then from there, we believe he went to here, and then he was in the room. Well, I think you have to look at each piece of that and try to argue that it wasn't premeditated. And I don't know how to do that because we don't know all the facts yet. But let's say theoretically maybe the the weapons weren't with him when he was on transportation, but were stored somewhere. Then you could try to argue, well, that wasn't really his intent when he was on the transportation. He may have been going back to that place, but maybe he was going to get the guns. All of that to say a reminder that intent is formed in the snap of a fingers, right?

[00:11:32]In the blink of an eye. That's all it takes for intent to form. And so I think somehow if it's not insanity, if it's not lack of competence to not go to trial, if it's not something that can help during the penalty phase, if there's a conviction to say the penalty phase means he needs mental health treatment more so than just strictly incarceration.

[00:11:57]If it's not any of those things, then I think that the defense is going to have an uphill battle, but yet still has to to attack that it wasn't premeditated, it wasn't deliberate, and that he wasn't going after the president.

[00:12:10]>> Exactly. Kelly, your thoughts.

[00:12:13]>> I agree with the the judge 100%. She brings up some really good and key key points.

[00:12:20]>> Yeah. and and I mean and one I will add one aspect is that uh the prosecution is going to have to prove that the defendant made a substantial step. So the argument is going to be what's the substantial step? Is it getting on the train to come cross country? Is it walking in the door? Is it firing the weapon with the president nowhere in sight? Like so I think there could be a few arguments made that there was not a sufficient enough substantial step to be able to rise to the level of getting a a guilty verdict in this. And of course you have to you know think about again going back to the intent. What was the intent here? Right? Was he truly trying to get the president or was he just happy with whoever he got? Right? So again lots and lots and lots to unpack.

[00:13:09]Um, ladies, last words. Kelly, then judge.

[00:13:16]>> This is an ongoing case, so I would urge people to wait and hear all the information before forming a decision of exactly what happened in this matter.

[00:13:30]>> And I want to echo and and really build on to that to say this is emotional. We know how divided this country is. We have the Trump supporters. We have the Trump haters. Emotionally, some people, let's be honest, are going to be thrilled that somebody tried to kill President Trump. The important piece is to keep that emotion out of it, to let the justice system work as it's supposed to. And the reality is Trump is the sitting president and it's a crime if they can prove all the elements to show that he intended to assassinate President Trump. There's going to be a lot more coming out >> for sure. And one thing I will say is that I will be watching and I'm sure both of you will be as well with baited breath because like I said things are coming out it feels like second by second and as we know with criminal trials one change of the facts can change the entire tone and tenor of a case to the point where the case no longer exists. So we're you know we just got to see day by day what comes out and we'll be sure to keep you posted with analysis on all of that. I'm Melba Pearson, also known as the resident legal diva, here with Kelly Heyman and Judge Ashley Wilcott. Thank you for tuning in. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe. Make sure also to stay safe, stay informed, and keep demanding justice. Take care. In collaboration with the Midas Touch Network, we just launched the Legal AF YouTube channel.

[00:14:56]Help us build this pro-democracy channel where I'll be curating the top stories, the intersection of law and politics. Go to YouTube now and free subscribe @ legal AFMt.

[00:15:08]That's legal aftn.