Donald Trump is appointing Fox News host and former New York prosecutor Jeanine Pirro to serve as interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., after the president announced earlier Thursday he would be pulling his support for the full nomination of Ed Martin, who currently holds the role.
“Jeanine is incredibly well qualified for this position, and is considered one of the Top District Attorneys in the History of the State of New York,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday evening. “She is in a class by herself.”
The president touted Pirro’s time as Westchester County District Attorney and work establishing the first domestic violence unit in a prosecutor’s office, calling her a “powerful crusader for victims of crime.”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
“Jeanine Pirro has been a wonderful addition to The Five over the last three years and a longtime beloved host across FOX News Media who contributed greatly to our success throughout her 14-year tenure,” a FOX News Media spokesperson told The Independent in a statement. “We wish her all the best in her new role in Washington.”
Since Trump took office, Pirro has steadfastly defended the administration.
She has voiced her support for the invocation of the wartime Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport alleged gang members.
In a March segment, she said she was “not disturbed” by migrants, including asylum seekers, being deported before they got full hearings in a court, adding, “The only due process I believe in is the legal way to enter this country.”
Pirro was among the top Fox News talent who “endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election,” media executive Rupert Murdoch said during a defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems against the news channel, which was later settled in 2023 for $787 million.
Producers for Pirro reportedly warned network executives one of the former prosecutor’s election-time segments was “rife w[ith] conspiracy theories and bs and is yet another example why this woman should never be on live television.”
Before the January 6 attack, Pirro compared efforts to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election to the American Revolutionary War, wondering if there was anyone in Congress “willing to battle for the America that those soldiers fought for, the one that you and I believe in.” (She later condemned the storming of the Capitol.)
Trump said earlier Thursday he would’ve liked to see Martin get nominated, but pulled his nomination as Republican senators like North Carolina’s Thom Tillis announced they wouldn’t back the conservative attorney.
“To me, it was disappointing. I’ll be honest. I have to be straight. I was disappointed, a lot of people were disappointed, but that’s the way it works sometimes,” Trump said.
Martin reportedly lost support over failing to originally disclose appearances on Russian state media and for his stances on the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which has included ordering the firings of lawyers who brought January 6 charges and pushing for reduced sentences for those convicted in the riot.
Martin, a conservative attorney who backed Trump’s Stop the Steal movement, falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen, was also physically present on the larger Capitol grounds during the insurrection.
During his brief stint as interim U.S. attorney, Martin threatened to investigate Democrats, academic institutions, and some critics of billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk.
