{"id":970,"date":"2026-05-11T15:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970"},"modified":"2026-05-11T15:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:38:10","slug":"whca-dinner-shooting-suspect-cole-allen-pleads-not-guilty-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970","title":{"rendered":"WHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON<\/strong> – <\/span>The man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at last month\u2019s White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner pleaded not guilty Monday to all charges.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more Hantavirus latest: American evacuated tests positive, 2 passengers relocated to Atlanta<\/a><\/p>

Cole Allen appeared in federal court for his arraignment wearing an orange jail uniform, handcuffed and shackled. He did not speak during the brief hearing, and one of his attorneys entered the plea on his behalf.<\/p>

The counts include attempted assassination of the president, assault on a federal officer and multiple firearms offenses.<\/p>

<\/div>

Allen\u2019s attorneys are attempting to disqualify top Justice Department officials from the case. They argue those officials could be considered victims or witnesses, creating a potential conflict of interest.<\/p>

FOX 5\u2019s Melanie Alnwick reports that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro were attending the April 25 event at the Washington Hilton when Allen allegedly ran through a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun at a Secret Service officer.<\/p>

READ MORE: <\/strong>Cole Allen returns to court Monday<\/strong><\/p>

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n

Photo shows Cole Allen in hotel room before attack as DOJ moves to keep him jailed: investigators (Department of Justice)<\/span> <\/p> <\/div><\/div>

In a filing last week, Allen\u2019s attorneys said the involvement of Blanche and Pirro creates at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. Defense attorneys Eugene Ohm and Tezira Abe, both assistant federal public defenders, suggested that a special prosecutor may be necessary.\u00a0<\/p>

They urged U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee assigned to the case, to bar Blanche, Pirro and possibly other Justice Department officials from direct involvement in the investigation and prosecution.<\/p>

Read more Texas led the nation in FCC complaints about Bad Bunny, Super Bowl<\/a><\/p>

McFadden did not rule on the issue from the bench and instead asked Allen\u2019s attorneys to further explain the potential scope of their recusal request.<\/p>

Last week, Allen and his attorneys also told the court he was being mistreated in the D.C. jail and placed on suicide watch without justification. The judge said he was troubled by the reported conditions, which included restraints, constant lighting and repeated strip searches.<\/p>

RELATED: <\/strong>Cole Allen returns to court Monday as defense seeks to disqualify officials<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

Prosecutors argued the precautions were necessary because Allen told investigators the night of the shooting that he did not expect to survive. He is no longer on suicide watch.<\/p>

Pirro said her office will respond to the defense arguments in a filing.<\/p>

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n

President Donald Trump released an image showing the man accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, on Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Via Truth Social)<\/span> <\/p> <\/div><\/div>

Allen is charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump, a longtime friend of Pirro, along with assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and two firearms counts. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the attempted assassination charge alone.<\/p>

READ MORE: <\/strong>Grand jury indicts WHCD shooting suspect on 4 counts<\/strong><\/p>

The Secret Service officer who was struck once in a bullet\u2011resistant vest fired five shots in return but did not hit anyone. Allen was injured during the incident but was not shot.<\/p>

Read more Gov. Abbott activates state emergency resources ahead of severe storm threat<\/a><\/p> <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at last month\u2019s White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner pleaded not guilty Monday to all charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115,8,116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-donald-j-trump","category-news","category-washington-d-c"],"yoast_head":"\nWHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty - Houston Moving Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty - Houston Moving Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at last month\u2019s White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner pleaded not guilty Monday to all charges.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Houston Moving Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-11T15:38:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/47a1656659d58f611ed4756c299ce16e.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"932\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"524\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba\"},\"headline\":\"WHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-11T15:38:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970\"},\"wordCount\":548,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/69492598400c04dc7a65bcea5ac67fb6.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Donald J. Trump\",\"News\",\"Washington, D.C.\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970\",\"name\":\"WHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty - Houston Moving Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/69492598400c04dc7a65bcea5ac67fb6.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-11T15:38:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/69492598400c04dc7a65bcea5ac67fb6.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/69492598400c04dc7a65bcea5ac67fb6.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=970#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"WHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Houston Moving Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"WHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty - Houston Moving Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"WHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty - Houston Moving Journal","og_description":"The man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at last month\u2019s White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner pleaded not guilty Monday to all charges.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970","og_site_name":"Houston Moving Journal","article_published_time":"2026-05-11T15:38:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":932,"height":524,"url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/47a1656659d58f611ed4756c299ce16e.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba"},"headline":"WHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty","datePublished":"2026-05-11T15:38:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970"},"wordCount":548,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/69492598400c04dc7a65bcea5ac67fb6.webp","articleSection":["Donald J. Trump","News","Washington, D.C."],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970","url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970","name":"WHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty - Houston Moving Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/69492598400c04dc7a65bcea5ac67fb6.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-11T15:38:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/69492598400c04dc7a65bcea5ac67fb6.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/69492598400c04dc7a65bcea5ac67fb6.webp","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=970#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"WHCA Dinner shooting suspect Cole Allen pleads not guilty"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/","name":"Houston Moving Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com"],"url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}