A federal magistrate judge personally apologized to the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump during a hearing Monday, saying his conditions were worse than those of the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters.
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui made the remarks during a hearing on the conditions of detention of Cole Tomas Allen, 31, accused of attempting to assassinate Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25, 2026.
“I am very troubled by the conditions you were subjected to,” Judge Zia Faruqui told Allen in court, adding: “I’m sorry. It appears things didn’t work out the way they were supposed to.”
Allen’s public defenders said their client was placed in a padded cell with constant lighting, kept in custody 24 hours a day and fully restrained using a five-point restraint system.
Judge Faruqui said he had dealt with many defendants on January 6 and none of them had been treated this way.
He concluded the hearing by ordering the prison to notify him once a housing decision was made. He also ordered that Allen receive the Bible he had requested.
A prison official said Allen was briefly placed on suicide watch following a doctor’s evaluation. Final housing decisions, she said, had not yet been made.
Prosecutors said Allen told the FBI after his arrest that he did not expect to survive the incident. “It is clear that he did not expect to survive it, which raises concerns of suicide,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine said in court.
Allen, a teacher and engineer from Torrance, California, rushed through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton with a 12-gauge shotgun. A Secret Service agent wearing a bulletproof vest was shot in the chest. Allen was shot but not hit and was arrested at the scene.
Allen faces charges including attempting to assassinate the president, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison. He is being held in a Washington, D.C., jail awaiting trial.
