HUGE: Judge Shuts Down Pivotal Request From Alleged WHCA Dinner Shooter

Cole Allen is moving closer to his fate after being arrested on charges related to the shooting at April’s White House Correspondents Dinner. 

But his legal team has been busy trying to gum up the works, including with a bid to remove two key federal prosecutors from the case.

The Hill provided this update:

A federal judge on Monday denied a request from Cole Allen, the alleged White House Correspondents’ dinner shooter, to bar acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro from being involved in the case. 

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“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,” U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden wrote in the order.

Allen’s bid to disqualify the pair came after both, in the wake of the shooting, said they could have been victims themselves had the alleged shooter managed to enter the ballroom hosting the dinner.

Allen, the judge wrote, citing the suspect’s own writing, did intend to “harm administration officials. He did not, however, name particular targets.”

“Nothing suggests that Allen knew that either Blanche or Pirro would attend the dinner,” McFadden wrote.

JUST IN: Judge McFadden has *denied* alleged WHCD shooter Cole Allen's effort to disqualify Todd Blanche and Jeanine Pirro from his case, claiming their presence at the dinner and relationship with Trump was a conflict.https://t.co/qw4NKPMR0S pic.twitter.com/7uKxp2JIaz

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 22, 2026

The development sparked some discussion on social media:

He's going to prison for a very, very, very long time.

— Jesse (@JesseO007) June 22, 2026

Grounds for an appeal?

— C.S. O'Grady (@CSOGRADY) June 22, 2026

Good!

— Marianne velue (@Veliemar) June 22, 2026

It was a different courtroom reception than Allen received last year from a judge who thought it was appropriate to apologize to him from the bench, as CBS News reported at the time:

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui on Monday pressed a representative of the D.C. Department of Corrections about conditions at the jail, including allegations from Allen’s lawyers that the defendant was denied access last week to a Bible, that his tablet has not been set up yet, and that he wasn’t able to meet with his legal team privately last week.

At one point, Faruqui told Allen he was “very troubled” by the “conditions you’ve been treated to.” 

The judge also apologized to Allen for the issues in the first week of his detention.

Here’s some additional coverage: