Correspondents’ Dinner suspect seeks to disqualify top DOJ officials from case

A man charged with attacking the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is asking the court to bar top Justice Department officials from directly participating in his prosecution, arguing they may be considered victims or witnesses in the case and therefore have a conflict of interest.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro were present at the April 25 event at the Washington Hilton when Cole Tomas Allen allegedly breached a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun at a Secret Service officer.

In a court filing submitted late Thursday, Allen’s attorneys said it would at least create the appearance of a conflict for Blanche and Pirro to be involved in prosecutorial decisions.

“As this case proceeds closer to trial, the country and the world will continue to wonder — how can the American justice system permit a victim to prosecute a criminal defendant in a case involving them?” defense attorneys Eugene Ohm and Tezira Abe wrote.

Ohm and Abe, who are assistant federal public defenders, suggested that the appointment of a special prosecutor might be warranted. They urged U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee assigned to Allen's case, to disqualify Pirro, Blanche and possibly other Justice Department officials from direct involvement in the investigation and prosecution.

“Both heard gunshots, which presumably forced them to duck below the tables with the rest of the occupants. They were quickly evacuated. Shortly thereafter, they learned that law enforcement believed the target was certain administration officials,” Ohm and Abe wrote.

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' 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.