WASHINGTON – A man accused of launching an attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is pushing to have senior Justice Department officials removed from his case. The reason? They might be perceived as either victims or witnesses, suggesting a possible conflict of interest.
During the April 25 event held at the Washington Hilton, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro were present when Cole Tomas Allen allegedly breached a security checkpoint and discharged a shotgun at a Secret Service agent.
Allen’s legal team, in a filing submitted late Thursday, contended that the involvement of Blanche and Pirro in prosecutorial decisions poses a potential conflict, or at least gives the impression of one.
“As this case advances towards trial, the public and the international community will question — how can the American justice system allow a victim to prosecute a defendant in a case they are personally linked to?” defense lawyers Eugene Ohm and Tezira Abe stated.
Ohm and Abe, who serve as assistant federal public defenders, have proposed that a special prosecutor should be appointed. They have called on U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, appointed by Trump and handling Allen’s case, to exclude Pirro, Blanche, and potentially other Justice Department personnel from direct roles in the investigation and prosecution.
“Both were within earshot of the gunshots, likely causing them to seek cover under tables alongside other attendees. They were promptly evacuated. It was soon reported to them that the intended targets were believed to be specific administration officials,” Ohm and Abe explained.
Pirro said her office will respond to the defense lawyers’ arguments in its own court filing.
“We will not tolerate people who come to the District of Columbia to engage in antidemocratic acts of political violence; and we will prosecute all such acts to the fullest extent of the law,” Pirro said in a statement.
Allen is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on charges in an indictment handed up Tuesday by a grand jury in Washington.
The charges include attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump, who is a longtime friend of Pirro. Blanche served as a personal attorney for Trump before joining the Justice Department last year.
Blanche, through a spokesperson, referred a request for comment to Pirro’s office.
Allen also is charged with assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and two additional firearms counts. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the attempted assassination charge alone.
The Secret Service officer who was shot once in a bullet-resistant vest fired his own weapon five times without hitting anybody. Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, was injured but was not shot.
