Trump Appoints Fox News Host Jeanine Pirro as U.S. Attorney for D.C.
In a surprise and dramatic move, former President Donald Trump has appointed Fox News television talk show host and retired judge Jeanine Pirro acting U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. The appointment came after the withdrawal of Ed Martin Jr.’s nomination to the role, an extraordinary reversal of one of the most powerful federal prosecutor positions in the country.
Trump announced the news on his Truth Social platform with complete assurance that Pirro would be the ideal substitute for the vacant seat. “Jeanine is extremely well qualified to get the job done,” Trump wrote. “She is one of the all-time great district attorneys in State of New York history. She is in her own class.”
A Controversial Replacement
The selection of Pirro to the high-profile position comes after a tumultuous nomination process with conservative activist Ed Martin Jr. Trump originally nominated Martin for the role, but growing scrutiny over his past and public controversies such as his vocal defense of individuals who participated in the January 6 Capitol rioting ultimately resulted in his loss. One of the highest-ranking Republican senators withheld their support due to those reasons, so Trump substituted him with a hasty replacement appointment.
“He’s a tremendous guy, and he wasn’t receiving the same sort of support from others that I did,” Trump told reporters. “But we have another individual who will be tremendous.” That “other individual” was Jeanine Pirro.
Even though Trump hasn’t signaled whether Pirro will be nominated for a full-time, Senate-confirmed spot, her interim appointment is already creating sparks in political and legal circles.
From the courtroom to cable TV
Jeanine Pirro has had plenty of practice being under the microscope. Before she became a household face on Fox News, she enjoyed a successful career as a lawyer. She entered public life in New York as a Westchester County judge in 1990 and later as county district attorney for three terms. A courthouse fixture and tough-on-crime advocate, Pirro was known in legal and political circles for years before entering the world of broadcast journalism with a bang.
She has been one of Fox News’s top voices since 2006, most notoriously, perhaps, for her blistering hot takes and zealous Trump apologias. She is currently a co-host on the network’s biggest rated show, “The Five,” on which she often has her say regarding matters of politics and the law with great enthusiasm.
Her return to a prosecutorial role – specifically one in as politically charged an area as Washington, D.C. – is a dramatic career about-face, especially in the wake of her media persona over the past few years.
Head of the Nation’s Most High-Profile U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Columbia U.S.A.’s Office is the largest and most powerful in the country with a mission that is different from any other office’s mission in the country. It is the leading office in public corruption in the country, and it has access to more resources than any office in the country.
Pirro’s elevation to the top of this office, even if it is only temporary, puts her at the head of one of the United States’ most politically charged prosecutorial teams. Whether or not she leads the office down new directions or onto old ones is yet to be determined, but her public, confrontational personality guarantees that her term in office – no matter how transient it may eventually turn out to be – is never going to be unremarked.
A Politicized Shift
Critics already wonder what drove the appointment. Pirro’s close tie to Trump and her presence on right-wing media outlets make her an intensely politicized candidate to serve in what is otherwise seen as an apolitical position. While her record as a district attorney and judge in the courtroom is highly established, the appointment has left people wondering lines being crossed between media influence and federal law enforcement authority.
Her allies, on the other hand, are confident that Pirro’s experience in the courtroom and her tell-it-like-it-is, no-nonsense approach most qualify her to resist Washington’s legal onslaughts. Her allies embrace the nomination as a return to good old-fashioned, no-nonsense principled leadership within the Justice Department.
What’s Next?
Whether Trump will pressure Pirro to be officially nominated to the position on a full-time basis, subject to Senate confirmation a likely heated one – is unknown. In the meantime, Pirro continues as acting U.S. Attorney, overseeing one of America’s most high-profile prosecutorial offices in an era of endemic legal and political stress.
As ever, Jeanine Pirro will probably come to her new role with the same intensity and confidence that have defined her professional life so far. Whether she enters the courtroom with the same degree of energy or develops a more subdued courtroom alter ego remains to be seen.
What is clear, however, is that Jeanine Pirro’s appointment is among the most contentious legal nominations in recent political history, both as to what it is and what it may signal in the future for federal law enforcement within America’s capital city.
