Left inset: Cole Tomas Allen pictured following his arrest on April 25, 2026 (@realDonaldTrump/TruthSocial). Main: U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro waits for President Donald Trump to arrive to speak with members of law enforcement and National Guard soldiers, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin).
The 31-year-old man accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents” Association Dinner months ago has now failed to persuade a federal judge that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro should be booted from the case based on her “friendship with the President.”
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee sitting in Washington, D.C., issued an order Monday denying Cole Tomas Allen’s motion to disqualify both Pirro and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche from the case, finding that none of the suspect’s arguments justify that result.
“Citing Blanche’s and Pirro’s presence at the alleged crime scene along with Pirro’s friendship with the President, Allen moves to disqualify both officials from prosecuting his case. The Court denies that motion. In line with longstanding precedent, the Court finds that neither the officials’ dinner attendance nor their statements after the fact demonstrate a conflict of interest. Nor does Pirro’s friendship with the President,” the judge ruled.
In his motion to disqualify, Allen bristled over statements Pirro and Blanche made in the media about the case.
“In a press conference, Pirro accused Allen of trying to ‘bring down as many of the high-ranking Cabinet officials as he could,'” McFadden wrote. “She told reporters about her experience ‘in the line of fire’ at the dinner, saying that she understood ‘what it feels like now to be hunted.'”
Allen went so far as to seek the disqualification of Pirro’s whole office, claiming there is at minimum an “appearance of impropriety.”
While acknowledging the “unusual” circumstances, McFadden said Pirro and Blanche were “unlikely to be trial witnesses,” aren’t the “legal definition of victims,” and should not be ousted based on their friendships with Trump.
“Their statements about the investigation and friendships with the President likewise present no basis for screening them from the case,” the judge said.
When Allen was indicted in early May for allegedly shooting a Secret Service officer and trying to assassinate Trump, Pirro and Blanche both made statements vowing to prosecute him and any other person similarly charged to the maximum extent possible.
“The use of violence to register dissent is anti-democratic at its core. We will pursue the maximum punishment available under the law against anyone who travels to the District of Columbia to engage in such acts,” Pirro said.
Read the order in full here.
