CNN
—
President Donald Trump announced Thursday he’s appointing Fox News host and former prosecutor Jeanine Pirro the interim US attorney for Washington, DC, after his first pick faced what appeared to be insurmountable pushback from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
“I am pleased to announce that Judge Jeanine Pirro will be appointed interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, touting her as the first woman elected to several previous positions and calling her a “powerful crusader for victims of crime.”
“She excelled in all ways,” Trump went on, praising her television career. “In addition to her Legal career, Jeanine previously hosted her own Fox News Show, Justice with Judge Jeanine, for ten years, and is currently Co-Host of The Five, one of the Highest Rated Shows on Television,” Trump added.
Pirro, a longtime Trump ally who was a regular presence at Mar-a-Lago even before he ran for president the first time, earned quick praise from the GOP senator who had derailed the nomination of Ed Martin, Trump’s first pick for the role.
“Jeanine Pirro has had a long and storied career as a prosecutor and she is a great choice by @POTUS to serve as U.S. Attorney for DC!” North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis wrote on on X.
Trump later announced that Martin will be moving to the Department of Justice as the director of the Weaponization Working Group, associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney.
Pirro, whom CNN reported earlier had been under consideration for the role, did not appear Thursday on Fox News’ “The Five.” ABC News first reported that Trump is eying Pirro for the position. CNN has reached out to Pirro.
“She will be leaving Fox to take this position and we obviously wish her well,” Bret Baier said as he broke the news to Fox viewers Thursday evening.
On “The Five,” and previously on her own weekend evening show called “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” Pirro used her legal background to bellicosely defend Trump and deride his critics.
Some of Pirro’s broadcasts were included in Dominion Voting Systems’ historic defamation lawsuit against Fox News, which the right-wing network settled for more than $787 million in 2023. Another voting company, Smartmatic, also sued Fox News and named Pirro as a defendant in a case that is pending in New York state courts. Fox News and Pirro deny wrongdoing.
Pirro and Trump have had a friendly relationship for decades. One of her books, titled “Don’t Lie to Me,” was dedicated to Trump.
Pirro’s enduring fame and Fox fortunes have, in the past eight years, been tied to her Trump support. And during the final day of Trump’s first term, Pirro lobbied to make sure the outgoing president pardoned her ex-husband, who had been convicted in 2000 on conspiracy and tax evasion charges. Pirro succeeded, and the pardon was Trump’s final official act in office.
Trump said earlier Thursday he would soon announce a new person to replace Martin, his controversial first pick.
“He’s a terrific person, and he wasn’t getting the support from people that I thought,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I can only lift that little phone so many times in a day, but we have somebody else that will be great,” he added.
He echoed that praise later Thursday in announcing Martin’s new roles.
“In these highly important roles, Ed will make sure we finally investigate the Weaponization of our Government under the Biden Regime, and provide much needed Justice for its victims,” Trump wrote on X.
Martin’s chances of full Senate approval had been rapidly diminishing as Republicans on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee needed to advance his nomination this week to meet a critical deadline for confirmation before his interim position expired on May 20.
Following Trump’s announcement that he would be withdrawing Martin’s nomination, Sen. Lindsey Graham called the president’s move “probably a good decision, given all the concerns.”
The South Carolina Republican also suggested he had insight into the president’s next pick for the job, telling CNN, “Stay tuned. It’s going to be big.”
The president formally named Martin as his pick for the job in March, and his nomination process had been riddled with controversies in the weeks since.
Martin updated his mandated disclosure to Congress detailing all of his past media appearances at least three times after his initial filing failed to report appearances he had made in the past few years, including many on far-right outlets and Russian-state media.
He also had to answer for his previous praise of a Capitol rioter who is an alleged Nazi sympathizer, despite his more recent denouncement. And he did not recall some of his most controversial past statements in response to a series of questions under oath put to him by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
During his short tenure as acting US attorney, Martin has drawn attention for having referred to the nation’s largest office of federal prosecutors as “President Trumps’ [sic] lawyers,” and demoting senior attorneys who worked on January 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases.
Tillis, a key GOP swing vote, derailed Martin’s nomination on Monday when he informed the White House he would not support the president’s nominee over concerns related to Martin’s views on the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Despite the setback, the White House had insisted it was behind Martin and Trump was personally lobbying lawmakers on his behalf.
“Martin is President Trump’s favorite US Attorney,” one source familiar with his nomination process said at the time.
This story and headline have been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Brian Stelter, Annie Grayer, Andrew Kaczynski, Em Steck and Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.
