A federal judge has rejected an attempt by the man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump to force Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro off the prosecution team.
In an 18-page order issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden denied defendant Cole Tomas Allen's motion to disqualify both officials from the case stemming from the April 25 attack at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
According to prosecutors, Allen traveled to the Washington Hilton intending to kill President Trump after tracking the event through public reporting. He allegedly rushed through a Secret Service checkpoint carrying a shotgun, wounded a Secret Service officer, and was stopped before reaching the ballroom where Trump, Cabinet officials, and other dignitaries were gathered.
Allen argued that Blanche and Pirro should be removed because they attended the dinner, later made public statements about the attack, and — in Pirro's case — because of her longstanding friendship with President Trump.
But Judge McFadden wasn't buying it.
The judge rejected Allen's contention that merely being present at the event transformed Blanche and Pirro into legal "victims" of the alleged crimes. The actual victims, he explained, were President Trump and the wounded Secret Service officer — not everyone who happened to be attending the dinner that evening.
Neither Blanche nor Pirro is a victim of Allen’s alleged crimes. Allen stands accused of attempting to assassinate the President, assaulting a United States officer with a deadly weapon, and committing two firearm offenses. See Indictment, ECFNo. 22. The only people “directly and proximately” harmed by those alleged crimes are the President and the wounded Secret Service officer. See Opp’n at 3. Add to that list, perhaps, the United States. Cf. Heldt, 668 F.2d at 1275. But the list stops short of Blanche and Pirro. Allen is not charged with attempting to harm either. Nor did he injure them. That they theoretically could have been injured or that they were present at the alleged crime scene does not make them “victims” of the charged crimes in a legal sense.
Nor did the court see any issue with either official speaking publicly on the matter afterward. Prosecutors, McFadden noted, aren't expected to be neutral observers. They are expected to vigorously prosecute criminal cases. The Constitution guarantees an impartial judge and jury — not prosecutors who are personally indifferent to whether a defendant is guilty.
Blanche’s and Pirro’s roles in this case assuage Allen’s specific concerns. Their remote supervisory status undermines the impropriety claim. See Opp’n at 8 n.3 (explaining that neither Blanche nor Pirro plan to act as trial attorneys here). It also undermines any claimed prejudice because line prosecutors will make most decisions. Allen’s fears that they will act inappropriately trade on his mistaken view that prosecutors must act completely impartially. That, the Court has explained, is a judge’s duty, not a prosecutor’s. See Wright, 732 F.2d at 1056. Should Allen develop concerns about biased treatment, the Court is confident that his attorneys will raise them.
READ MORE: Correspondents’ Dinner Attack: Suspect Cole Tomas Allen Enters His Plea
‘Premeditated’: Pirro Says Evidence in WHCD Shooting Now Tells a Much Darker Story
Perhaps the most interesting portion of the opinion addressed Pirro's friendship with Trump.
McFadden pointed out that presidents have long appointed trusted friends, political allies, and even family members to top Justice Department positions. He cited historical examples ranging from Robert F. Kennedy serving as attorney general for his brother, President John F. Kennedy, to Robert Jackson's close relationship with Franklin Roosevelt and Eric Holder's well-known ties to Barack Obama. He also leaned on Justice Antonin Scalia's famous refusal to recuse himself from a case involving then-Vice President Dick Cheney, explaining that friendship alone generally doesn't require recusal when government officials are acting in their official capacities.
McFadden acknowledged that the circumstances are unusual, given that senior Justice Department officials attended the event where the alleged assassination attempt occurred. But unusual, he concluded, isn't the same thing as unconstitutional.
Finding no actual conflict of interest — or even a legally sufficient appearance of one — the court denied Allen's motion, leaving Blanche, Pirro, and the Justice Department in place to continue prosecuting one of the most consequential criminal cases currently pending in federal court.
The case is not yet set for trial, but a status conference is set for June 29.
Editor's Note: This article was updated post-publication for clarity.
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