{"id":227567,"date":"2026-05-11T19:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/227567\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T19:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:08:14","slug":"whcd-gunman-cole-allen-makes-wild-demand-of-trump-officials-after-he-allegedly-tried-to-kill-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/227567\/","title":{"rendered":"WHCD gunman Cole Allen makes wild demand of Trump officials after he allegedly tried to kill them"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Top Department of Justice officials should not be involved in prosecuting\u00a0White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner\u00a0gunman Cole Allen<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 because they were the very targets he was allegedly trying to kill, Allen\u2019s lawyers claimed Monday.<\/p>\n

Cole\u2019s attorneys argued<\/a>\u00a0that the attack\u2019s occurrence during the annual black-tie gala on April 25 \u2014\u00a0which hosted several Trump cabinet officials<\/a>\u00a0in addition to the president \u2014 should force the recusal of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who were both at the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wholly inappropriate,\u201d\u00a0for Pirro or Blanche to \u201cbe making the primary prosecutorial decisions in the case,\u201d defense lawyer Eugene Ohm claimed.<\/p>\n

Accused White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner shooter Cole Allen pleaded not guilty at a Monday hearing.<\/p>\n

A still image from surveillance video shows Allen running through a hotel security checkpoint and the shooting that unfolded with uniformed police officers and US Secret Service agents during the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner in Washington, DC. US Attorney for the District of Colombia\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ohm also noted Pirro\u2019s longstanding \u201cclose\u201d relationship with Trump.<\/p>\n

Allen, 31, pleaded not guilty at a Monday hearing in DC federal court to charges including attempting to assassinate President Trump. He is also charged\u00a0with assault on law enforcement, transporting a firearm across state lines to commit a felony,\u00a0and discharging a weapon\u00a0<\/a>during a crime of violence.<\/p>\n

He faces up to life in prison if convicted.<\/p>\n

In a May 7 court filing, defense lawyers wrote that Blanche and Pirro\u00a0\u201cwere potential victims and targets in what they have\u00a0described as an attempted \u2018mass shooting.’\u201d<\/p>\n

US District Judge Trevor\u00a0McFadden pressed the defense in court Monday on how extensive that recusal would be, telling Assistant DC US Attorney Charles Jones that it \u201csounds like you\u2019d be out too,\u201d should the defense succeed in its motion.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s defense team indicated that Pirro\u2019s \u201csupervisory\u201d role should disqualify her entire office from prosecuting Allen, while suggesting that the \u201cstructural appearance of impropriety\u201d of Blanche overseeing the case should force his recusal as well.<\/p>\n

Cole Tomas Allen, second from right, listening as his attorney Eugene Ohm, left, speaks to U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui, Monday, May 4, 2026, in Washington. AP<\/p>\n

Cole Tomas Allen, a suspect in the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner shooting, sits in the courtroom during a hearing after being charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said the defense argument was a \u201cHail Mary\u201d that was \u201chighly unlikely\u201d to succeed.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s lawyers had previously claimed the alleged gunman wasn\u2019t carrying \u201can automatic or even semi-automatic weapon,\u201d meaning prosecutors couldn\u2019t claim he was prepared to carry out a \u201cmass shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest on the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner:<\/p>\n

Donald Pearsall \/ NY Post Design<\/p>\n

They had also claimed there was no evidence in a manifesto that Cole allegedly sent right before the attack, specifically mentioning an intent to assassinate Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the government may be able to say that the letter expresses an intent to target administration officials, it falls well short of narrowing those officials to President Trump,\u201d the attorneys alleged in an April 30 filing.<\/p>\n

Screen grab from a video showing Cole Allen running through a hotel security checkpoint. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro<\/p>\n

Rahmani said that the defense team was \u201ctalking out of both sides of their mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Pirro was a target, she would potentially be a victim and then the chance of her being disqualified would increase significantly,\u201d he noted. \u201cBut obviously the defense doesn\u2019t want the government to add additional charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Allen\u2019s defense lawyers have quoted from Blanche and Pirro\u2019s public remarks in filings, Rahmani added that \u201chaving a press conference isn\u2019t a basis for disqualification.\u201d<\/p>\n

This image showed Cole Allen took of himself in a mirror at approximately 8:03 pm ET while in his hotel room at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, on April 25, 2026, according to the memorandum. US Attorney for the District of Colombia\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be a necessary and material witness: I don\u2019t think Blanche or Pirro even saw anything,\u201d added, noting that Allen \u201cdidn\u2019t make it into the ballroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Torrance, Calif.,\u00a0teacher had been kept on suicide watch until last week for potentially posing a danger to himself \u2014 and\u00a0entered the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit with his arms and legs shackled before approaching the bench to enter his plea before McFadden.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s defense team has so far not contested his detention ahead of trial.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House after the shooting at the annual White House Correspondents\u2019 Association Dinner in Washington. AP<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s defense team has so far not contested his detention ahead of trial.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui\u00a0apologized to Allen\u00a0<\/a>during\u00a0a May 4 hearing for being forced into the 24-hour lockdown following the shooting, prompting Pirro to blast the jurist for \u201cpreferential treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pirro\u2019s \u201cemotional response was inflammatory, inappropriate, and inaccurate\u201d showing \u201cthe depths of her personal interest in this case,\u201d wrote Allen\u2019s lawyers in their motion to disqualify her and her office.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors in the DC office must respond to the disqualification motion by May 22, while a reply from Allen\u2019s defense attorneys is due May 29, McFadden ruled.<\/p>\n

The next pre-trial hearing is set for June 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Top Department of Justice officials should not be involved in prosecuting\u00a0White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner\u00a0gunman Cole Allen\u00a0\u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[83162,153,9,11,10,87,3980,58],"class_list":["post-227567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-2026-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting","tag-donald-trump","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-shootings","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}