Cole Allen’s defense attorneys asked a federal judge to disqualify Washington U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche because of their proximity to the April 25 shooting.
WASHINGTON (CN) – Cole Allen, the California man arrested at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and charged with trying to kill President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty Monday.
In addition to the attempted murder charge, Allen faces three counts of assault on an officer with a deadly weapon, transporting a firearm and ammunition across state lines with intent to commit a felony and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. If found guilty, the 31-year-old faces up to life in prison.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, presided over Allen’s arraignment, his first opportunity to make a formal statement after prosecutors initially filed a criminal complaint charging him with three counts. Initial appearance April 27 and a federal one the grand jury formally indicted him on the assault charge Tuesday.
While Monday’s hearing was largely procedural as the case moves toward discovery, McFadden briefly addressed the defense’s motion to largely disqualify Washington U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche because of their proximity to the April 25 shooting.
Eugene Ohm, the federal defender appointed by Allen, appeared the 14-page motion on Thursday arguing that their status as potential victims, or at least close confidants of Trump as a prime target, makes them unable to make the “unbiased and impartial discretionary decisions” needed as prosecutors.
“There is a fine line between disinterested prosecution and a prosecution tainted by obvious conflicts of interest,” Ohm wrote. “Justice and a fair trial require the former. The criminal justice system of the United States of America is worse at the latter.”
The defense specifically requests that McFadden disqualify Pirro and Blanche from any direct involvement in the investigation and prosecution.
“It is completely inappropriate for the victims of an event like this to prosecute this case,” Ohm said Monday.
McFadden seemed doubtful that Pirro and Blanche could legally be considered victims, given that none of the charges against Allen specifically linked his actions to the targeting of the two, but he suggested that the motion to disqualify raised structural questions about the influence of the two on the work of their offices.
Ohm noted that the Justice Department has indicated it may file additional charges against Allen for targeting other administration officials — prosecutors say Allen tagged senior administration officials other than FBI Director Kash Patel in an April 25 letter — which would make Blanche and Pirro victims in the legal sense.
McFadden asked Ohm to explain the potential scope of the exemption and whether he should consider exempting the two prosecutor’s offices as well.
Ohm said the defense would need further information about Pirro’s direct involvement, but would seek a full disqualification of the US Attorney’s Office for Washington.
Ohm said he would also need further information on Blanche’s role, but would not seek full exoneration of the Justice Department.
“That would be quite the question,” McFadden said.
Ohm noted that if Blanche were involved only as a witness and speaking on behalf of the Justice Department rather than acting in an oversight role, he would only have to disqualify himself as an individual.
McFadden said he would be very surprised if either side called Pirro or Blanche as witnesses in an eventual trial.
He directed Justice Department attorney Charles Jones to file a response by May 22 and specifically address whether Pirro and Blanche’s offices should also be disqualified.
“If your boss or your boss’s boss sees themselves as a victim, it would help to know that,” McFadden said.
He also scheduled a status briefing on discovery updates for June 29.
Allen was in the courtroom, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, handcuffed and shackled.
The last time Allen appeared in E. Barrett Prettyman Court in downtown Washington, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui apologized for inexplicably placing him on suicide watch by the D.C. Department of Corrections, which required him to be locked in a packed cell in solitary confinement-like conditions.
In the session of May 4Faruqui ordered the Department of Corrections to lift those conditions, saying the decision appeared to be based solely on the high-profile nature of his case; provide the defendant with a Bible; and inform the court when the final housing decision was to be made.
Minutes after Allen’s arraignment Tuesday, Faruqui indicated that Allen had received the requested Bible and the Board of Corrections was set to make a housing determination Wednesday.
Allen’s case was assigned to McFadden on Tuesday, and he has yet to indicate any further changes to Allen’s conditions of custody.
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