Judge Jeanine goes to Washington
Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, D.C.'s new interim U.S. attorney, is leaping from one spotlight directly into another as she helms the investigation into the capital's most high-profile crime in years.
Pirro — who President Donald Trump hosted for a ceremonial swearing in at the Oval Office Wednesday — made an abrupt departure from her longtime position at Fox earlier this month after Trump tapped her for the position in Washington, making her the latest in a string of former personalities at the president's favorite network to join the administration.
Pirro was one of Fox's most visible stars, co-hosting the network's talk show 'The Five' since 2022 after an 11-year stint hosting her own program, 'Justice With Judge Jeanine.'
But the television veteran found herself in front of the cameras again not two weeks after starting her new role — this time with a far more serious mission.
Pirro has quickly become one of the faces of the prosecution against 31-year old suspect Elias Rodriguez, who was charged last week with the killing of two Israeli Embassy staffers. Pirro visited the Capital Jewish Museum with Attorney General Pam Bondi just hours after the shooting outside the downtown Washington building left Israeli Embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky dead.
She appeared again at a press conference about the shooting beside D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith the following day, where she announced murder and felony firearms charges against Rodriguez and promised to 'vigorously pursue' the case.
Trump tapped the longtime Fox News host and stalwart MAGA supporter to the role on May 8, after Ed Martin's nomination for the job faltered in the Republican-controlled Senate, a rare loss for a Trump nominee.
While Martin had never worked as a prosecutor and drew criticism for his defense of Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol rioters, Pirro has an extensive legal resume, serving as a district attorney and a judge in Westchester County, New York, before her shift to network fame. Her history on the bench earned her the TV-friendly nickname 'Judge Jeanine,' which followed her throughout her television career.
Pirro was also a booster of Trump's unproven claims about a stolen 2020 election. She was a central character in the defamation lawsuit Dominion Voting Systems brought against Fox News, in which the voting machine company alleged that the network pushed falsehoods about its systems as part of a broader conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was rigged.
Pirro, who had repeatedly made false claims that Joe Biden's election win was fraudulent, was named several times in the suit. The network ultimately reached a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion in 2023.
But, in contrast to Martin's support for Jan. 6 rioters, Pirro denounced the Jan. 6 attack as 'deplorable' immediately following the attack, setting her up as a less controversial pick for the job than her short-lived predecessor.
Pirro's office did not immediately provide a comment for this story.
Pirro also has a long history of mutual support with Trump. She has been a frequent guest at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, and used her television platform to vociferously defend the president over the years.
And Trump has delivered in return.
Trump issued a pardon for Pirro's ex-husband, Albert Pirro, who had been convicted on conspiracy and tax evasion charges in 2000 as one of his last acts in office in 2021.
After Trump tapped her for the interim U.S. attorney job, gushing in a May 8 Truth Social post announcing the move that Pirro is 'in a class by herself,' Pirro quickly jumped to serve her longtime ally.
The then-Fox host quickly left her post at the network without a final farewell to her viewers, leaving a major hole on one of the most-watched shows in cable news and setting off a game of musical chairs to replace her.
Pirro's new role in the U.S. Attorney's office is also not her first political rodeo. She launched — and soon abandoned — an unsuccessful bid to unseat then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) in 2005.
Switching gears shortly thereafter, Pirro launched a bid for New York attorney general, but that campaign quickly derailed after she came under federal investigation for planning — with former city Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik — how to covertly record her husband to determine whether he was cheating on her. She was never charged, but ultimately lost the race to Andrew Cuomo.
Pirro has already been on the job, even before Wednesday. But the ceremonial swearing-in ceremony at the White House put on display the bond between her and Trump, as the two exchanged flatteries in the Oval Office.
'She's been very, very successful at a thing called television,' Trump joked, going on to say that 'to me, she'll always be known as a great lawyer and great prosecutor, which is what she's doing now.'
Pirro returned the favor, thanking Trump in her remarks for the move to 'bring me back to my roots,' before vowing that the killings of the two Israeli Embassy staffers 'will not go without just accounting' and promising that the nation's capital would 'become a shining city on a hill' under her watch.
But the road to that gleaming city is long, particularly for Pirro, who is undergoing the trials of transitioning from network fame to the life of a federal worker.
In a video posted to her X account last week — captioned 'the federal government has money for everyone but us' — Pirro made a pointed speech about the budgetary constraints of her new workplace.
Standing by a water cooler in the U.S. Attorney's office, Pirro complained that attorneys and staff in the office must pay dues to join a 'water club' in order to stay hydrated.
'And today they asked for our patience,' Pirro waxed on. 'Why? Because we couldn't get water delivered today. Today there was no water delivered to the United States Attorney's office — and remember, it's only for those who pay $7 a month. Now ain't it grand to be part of the government? And I'm just thrilled to be here.'
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