US Attorney Pirro Says Evidence Shows Agent Was Shot by Suspect’s Gun During DC Dinner

The bullet that hit a Secret Service agent just outside of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was fired by the gunman and was not friendly fire, says Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Pirro shared on May 3 that there is video footage of the suspect, Cole Allen, shooting at the Secret Service officer stationed outside the ballroom on April 25.

“We ​now can ​establish that a pellet that ‌came ⁠from the buckshot from the defendant’s Mossberg pump-action shotgun ​was ​intertwined ⁠with the fiber of the ​vest of the ​Secret ⁠Service officer,” Pirro shared during an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” program on May 3.

The Secret Service agent, who is expected to be OK, was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time.

Pirro reiterated that the suspect intended to do mass harm in a “premeditated, violent act, calculated to take down the president and anyone who was in the line of fire.”

“It is definitively his bullet, he hit at that Secret Service agent, he was—had every intention to kill him and anyone who got in his way, on his way to killing the president of the United States,” she said.

Pirro and Tapper were both attending the dinner when the gunman stormed the lobby, sprinting past law enforcement, as he apparently attempted to get inside the black tie event.

Tapper asked whether Pirro intended to recuse herself from the case because she was both a witness and a potential target.

“Absolutely not,” Pirro said. “I mean, there’s no way. I mean, that would be like telling witnesses that, you know, you can’t testify at the trial because you were there. The truth is that there were 2,500 of us who were there, and my ability to prosecute this case has nothing to do with my being there.”

Pirro confirmed that there will be additional surveillance video footage released from the incident.

A preliminary hearing for the case is scheduled for May 8, Pirro said on May 3.

The 31-year-old suspect was charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump and transporting a firearm across state lines with intent to commit a felony and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

The former teacher and amateur video game designer has not entered a plea yet.

If convicted, he faces life in prison.

Trump said the alleged gunman “never came close” to the hotel ballroom with Cabinet members and high-profile journalists inside.

“He came in running like he was an NFL running back, frankly, he was very fast, and they just stopped him cold,” Trump said during an interview on April 26.