U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Sunday there is evidence that buckshot from a shotgun carried by alleged White House Correspondents’ Dinner attacker Cole Allen was “intertwined with the fiber” of a bulletproof vest worn by a Secret Service officer who was hit by gunfire in the attack.
“It is definitively his bullet he hit at that Secret Service agent,” Pirro told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “He had every intention to kill him and anyone, on his way to killing the president of the United States.”
Pirro’s comments go beyond what prosecutors have disclosed publicly so far of ballistics evidence against Allen.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro points at pictures of weapons carried by Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the shooting incident in Washington at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at a press conference at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, April 27, 2026.
Kylie Cooper/Reuters
Pirro also said that Allen’s alleged planning released by her office shows that as well. She said there is more evidence, including more video, that will be released later.
In a court filing last week, Allen’s attorneys questioned what evidence the government has to determine he fired his weapon. They have not spoken publicly about the case other than through court filings.
Prosecutors have yet to release evidence that shows the results of ballistics tests on the shotgun or what struck the Secret Service agent.
“As things become more public, we are more than happy to be transparent,” she said.
Prosecutors from her office will take their evidence to a grand jury to seek an indictment on May 8, she said.
Allen, 31, faces three felony counts of attempted assassination of the president of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition over state lines with the intent to commit a felony and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. He has not entered a plea. His next court appearance is May 11.
Prosecutors have said in documents that Allen fired the shotgun at least once as he ran past the magnetometers, and they said he fired “in the direction” of the Secret Service officer who was struck in the vest. Prosecutors said one spent cartridge case was recovered from the chamber and “at least one fragment was recovered from the crime scene that was physically consistent with a single buckshot pellet.”
Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in an appearance on Fox News on Thursday afternoon that Allen shot a an agent at “point blank range with a shotgun.”
Pirro said “the Secret Service officer fired his weapon five times” and added that the officer did not shoot himself.
An officer fires (bottom L) as White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen sprints past security personnel in an image taken from security camera video, at the Washington Hilton Hotel, April 25, 2026.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro via X
Pirro also said Sunday she will not be recusing herself, despite her being at the dinner.
Pirro said although Allen didn’t identify the president specifically as a target in what prosecutors have released and said were his writings ahead of the attack, Allen’s alleged tracking of the president make it clear to her “the president is the target.”
“Did he really want to kill the president? I can tell you we will be able to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt,” Pirro said.
“The one issue that people might think about is: Is he insane? He is far from insane. He is brilliant. He has a master’s degree. He worked at a NASA jet propulsion laboratory. This is a guy who had no psychotic break,” she said. He is very very lucid and clear.”