Cole Allen traveled from LA to DC via train, was a guest at Washington Hilton before trying to 'target' Trump admin

( Post Millennial )

Acting AG Todd Blanche revealed the movements of suspected would-be assassin Cole Thomas and said that he did appear to be targeting the Trump administration.  Blanche also said said that a bullet was recovered from the bullet proof vest worn by the Secret Service agent who was struck. 

CBS' Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan asked Blanche about whether it was the gunman's bullet that struck the agent, and Blanche said "that's what we understand as of now."

On Saturday night, a gunman opened fire in the lobby outside the ballroom where the White House Correspondent Dinner was taking place. Cole Allen was arrested at the scene and will be charged. His arraignment is scheduled for Monday. 

Speaking to Dana Bash on CNN, Blanche said "We executed a number of search warrants last night," both in Los Angeles and in Washington, DC. "We executed search warrants on electronic devices that we found that we believe belong to the suspect. And we're still looking to try and understand a motive.

"From our preliminary investigation, it does appear the suspect was targeting members of the administration. I don't want to go beyond that because we don't have specifics yet about particular members of the administration, except that we do understand that that was his goal and his target."

Blanche walked through Allen's movements, saying that he traveled by train from California, where he had been working as a teacher. "We know that he traveled from Los Angeles to Chicago and the Chicago to DC. It appears he traveled by train during both those legs of his trip and checked into the Washington Hilton a couple of days ago on the 24th, and then obviously tried to breach the perimeter last night and was quickly subdued."

Allen was a guest at the Hilton Hotel where the White House Correspondents Association dinner was taking place. Allen reportedly told officers that he was targeting the Trump administration, but he is not currently cooperating with law enforcement. 

He was apprehended and subdued feet away from breaking the perimeter," Blanche told Brennan. "So we were all safe inside, and that's a testament to the Secret Service doing their job and the law enforcement doing exactly what we hope and expect them to do in this time and train for this their entire careers."

Speaking from the White House podium, US Attorney Dana Perino said that Allen faces two charges, using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. Allen will be arraigned in federal court on Monday. Acting AG Todd Blanche said "justice will be served." 

Blanche said that additional evidence may lead to additional charges for Allen, 31. "There's a lot of federal charges that could be in play beyond those two charges but it depends on us understanding his motive, his intent, his premeditation of what led into him deciding he was going to do what he did last night," he said.