Accused correspondents’ dinner shooter seeks to disqualify Pirro and Blanche because they attended press gala

Attorneys for accused White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter Cole Allen asked a judge Thursday night to disqualify U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro and other senior Justice Department leaders from the case because they were present during the incident.

In the motion, his lawyers led with a quote from FBI Director Kash Patel, who appeared at a press conference two days after the shooting to discuss the case alongside acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Pirro.

“This one hits a little differently. We were all there,” the motion quotes Patel as saying.

Allen has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump, assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and two gun counts. He has not yet entered a plea.

Allen’s legal team argued Thursday that Pirro and Blanche should be disqualified due to their status as “purported victims and witnesses in this case.”

His lawyers noted that federal prosecutors have accused Allen of trying to kill “high-ranking government officials” — a term that could refer to Blanche and Pirro. They also pointed out that Pirro is a longtime friend of Mr. Trump’s, and said she has “referenced her status as a potential victim” in media appearances where she discussed her experience in the ballroom, including one CNN interview in which Pirro said she was “in that combat zone.”

The filing cited internal Justice Department rules that direct employees to recuse themselves from any criminal investigations where they may have a conflict of interest or a personal relationship with people involved in a case.

“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?” they wrote. “Or even—how can one of the victim’s closest friends prosecute the alleged perpetrator of the offense?”

CBS News has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Prosecutors have accused Allen, 31, of sprinting through a security checkpoint one floor above the correspondents’ dinner while armed with a handgun, a shotgun and several knives. Authorities say he fired his shotgun at an officer who was hit in his protective vest, and the officer fired back five times but didn’t hit him, before Allen was taken into custody.

Allen allegedly sent an email to family members on the night of the dinner claiming he planned to target Trump administration officials aside from Patel, “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.” A range of administration figures were present at the annual event, including Mr. Trump, much of his Cabinet and other high-level federal officials.