President Donald Trump has announced that he will appoint Fox News host and former New York prosecutor Jeanine Pirro as the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
The announcement was made via Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, and follows his statement from the Oval Office on Thursday that current interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin will not be considered for the permanent role. Martin reportedly lost support among leading Senate Republicans. ABC News had previously reported that Pirro was being considered for the position.
The White House has not yet responded to ABC News' request for comment, and neither Fox News nor Pirro has issued a statement.
Pirro has been a loyal ally of Trump for years, with their relationship dating back to her tenure as a high-profile prosecutor in New York. She was an early backer of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and publicly defended him during the controversy surrounding the "Access Hollywood" tape.
After the 2020 election, Pirro promoted unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud involving voting machines. She was later named in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox News. The network ultimately settled the case for $787.5 million and acknowledged that the claims aired were false.
In 2019, Jeanine Pirro was reportedly suspended by Fox News after she questioned Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, referencing Omar’s Muslim faith.
Ed Martin, who had been serving as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia since the beginning of the Trump administration, will see his temporary term expire on May 20. Martin had been seeking the permanent position, but his chances diminished after losing support among key Senate Republicans.
Martin previously promoted Trump’s "Stop the Steal" movement following the 2020 election and was spotted on the Capitol grounds during the January 6 attack. Despite this, Trump said Thursday that Martin could still serve in another role within the Department of Justice.
In a notable move during his final hours in office in 2021, Trump issued a last-minute pardon to Albert Pirro, Jeanine Pirro’s ex-husband and a longtime Republican donor. Albert Pirro had been convicted on 34 counts of conspiracy and tax evasion for improperly deducting over $1 million in personal expenses as business write-offs.......Read More