Pirro rips judge in Trump attack case for apologizing to Cole Allen over jail conditions

An irritated federal judge on Monday said it appeared that Cole Allen, the man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, has been treated more harshly by a jail than it treated defendants in Jan. 6, 2021, attack criminal cases.

"I can tell you I have never had a January 6th defendant who was put in 5-point restraints or a safe cell," Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui told prosecutors and the top attorney for the District of Columbia's jail system, during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Faruqui said he found it "extremely disturbing" and was "very troubled" that the 31-year-old Allen had been placed under suicide watch and had restrictions imposed without a finding that he was at risk for suicide and without having a criminal history.

"A lot of people have seemed to forget about Jan. 6, but I have not," Faruqui said. "Pardons erase convictions but do not erase history."

The judge later spoke directly to Allen, saying, "We are obligated to make sure you are treated with the basic dignity, and it seems you are not, and I am sorry."

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro later Monday ripped Faraqui for his comments.

"Welcome to Washington, DC, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Faruqui believes a defendant armed to the teeth and attempting to assassinate the president is entitled to preferential treatment in his confinement compared to every other defendant," Pirro wrote on X.

Allen's lawyer Eugene Jeen-Young Kim Ohm at Monday's hearing told Faruqui that said officials at the D.C. jail placed Allen in a safe, padded cell, in essentially a 24-hour lockdown, with constant lighting.

Allen was told he could not make a legal call over the weekend, was not able to have paperwork or legal work in his room and was denied a Bible that he had requested, the attorney told Faruqui.

He said Allen remains in protective custody.

Tony Towns, the acting general counsel for D.C.'s Department of Corrections, said that Allen was assessed as a suicide risk by a psychiatrist at the jail, and was later downgraded to suicide precautoins are a reevaluation of him.

"It just doesn't add up," Faruqui said, asking how the D.C. jail houses people who have been found guilty and have less restrictive conditions than Allen, who is being held without bond.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine later told Faruqui that Allen, after his arrest, told investigators that he had not expected to survive the alleged attack, which raised concerns that he was at risk of suicide.

"It's a high-profile case," the judge said. "I don't live under a rock .... He should not be in solitary confinement."

"If that's what is going to happen, I want to know that, and I want to know why," Faruqui said.

Faruqui ordered prosecutors to send him an email by Tuesday morning informing him when a final decision on where Allen will be detained.

Allen's lawyers over the weekend asked that he be removed from suicide precautions, calling them punitive. They dropped that request after being told the precautions were lifted, but the judge said a hearing on the issue would proceed Monday, saying he had serious questions about Allen's treatment.

The Torrance, California, resident was tackled by Secret Service officers on April 25 after running through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton Hotel, a floor above the ballroom where Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other top Trump administration officials were dining with hundreds of journalists.

Pirro said over the weekend that Allen fired the shotgun he was carrying at a Secret Service officer, whose protective vest blocked the shot from seriously injuring him.

— MS NOW's Nora McKee contributed to this article.