Blanche Does Not Rule Out Friendly Fire in Shooting of Secret Service Agent at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, declined on Monday to rule out the possibility that another federal agent fired the shot that struck a Secret Service agent during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night. The man accused of trying to assassinate President Trump at the dinner, Cole Allen, has not been charged with harming a federal officer. Mr. Allen was arraigned on Monday afternoon at the E. Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse at Washington, D.C., on three counts — attempting to assassinate the president, interstate transportation of weapons, and discharge of a weapon during a violent crime. Notably absent from the charges is an allegation that he shot a Secret Service agent at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night. Mr. Trump said in an interview with “60 Minutes” that the agent was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries after the shot was blocked by a protective vest. On the night of the shooting, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, who appeared at Mr. Allen’s arraignment on Monday, said the suspect was being arrested on a charge of attacking a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. But when asked about the lack of any such charge during a press conference after the arraignment Monday, Mr. Blanche said the ballistics team was still working to determine if Mr. Allen did, in fact, shoot the agent. “We’re still looking at that and I think that that’s something you’ll hear about in the coming days as we know the answer to that,” Mr. Blanche told reporters. “After an event like this happens, not surprisingly there are initial charges that we consider. Then you have the U.S. attorney’s team and the FBI looking through the evidence and figuring out what’s the best thing to do.”When asked a follow-up question whether any agent besides the one who was injured fired his weapon, Mr. Blanche said he would not comment. “I want to be very careful in answering that question, because when you do ballistics evidentiary collection and research, it is very complicated. So, when you fire a bullet, the bullet ends up somewhere. Sometimes you find it, sometimes you don’t,” Mr. Blanch responded. It was announced at the press conference that law enforcement believes Mr. Allen fired a weapon only once, while the agent who was injured shot at the assailant five times in response. But Mr. Blanche made clear that the government’s assessment could change. “We believe that there were five shots fired from the same firearm,” Mr. Blanche said. “But there’s a team of folks looking at this [who] are experts.” He says the ballistics team will work “all night” to make a final determination.

Blanche Does Not Rule Out Friendly Fire in Shooting of Secret Service Agent at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

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