A federal judge ruled Monday that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro will remain on the prosecution team in the case against White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen.
Allen’s attorneys had sought to remove Blanche and Pirro from the case, arguing they were conflicted because both attended the April 25 White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton and have close ties to President Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden rejected those arguments in an 18-page opinion, finding no legal basis to disqualify either prosecutor.
“The two are unlikely to be trial witnesses, nor do they meet the legal definition of victims,” McFadden wrote. “Their statements about the investigation and friendships with the President likewise present no basis for screening them from the case.”
Allen’s lawyers argued in a May 8 filing that Blanche and Pirro’s involvement created “grave concerns about whether they are making prosecutorial decisions as representatives of the government or as witnesses.”
Both Justice Department officials joined President Donald Trump for a press conference at the White House shortly after Allen’s arrest. Pirro also issued a statement declaring, “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.”
Allen, 31, is accused of crashing the black-tie White House Correspondents’ Dinner armed with two firearms and multiple knives, allegedly intending to kill President Trump and as many members of his Cabinet as possible.
According to prosecutors, Allen opened fire from one floor above the Washington Hilton’s grand ballroom, striking a Secret Service agent in his bulletproof vest. The agent returned fire but missed, and Allen was subsequently subdued and taken into custody.
The California schoolteacher allegedly distributed a manifesto shortly before the attack. The document, signed “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen,” claimed he was “no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”
Prosecutors say the manifesto also identified senior Trump administration officials as targets. Thirteen individuals in the presidential line of succession were attending the dinner that night.
Allen was federally indicted on May 5 on charges including attempted assassination of the president, assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon, transporting a firearm and discharging it during a crime of violence.
If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
The post WHCD Shooting Suspect Cole Allen Loses Bid To Remove Top Prosecutors From Case appeared first on Real News Now.
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