WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, Donald Trump named television personality and ex-judge Jeanine Pirro to an important role within the U.S. judicial system, marking the president’s most recent appointment of a Fox News anchor to a governmental authority position.
The brash 73-year-old has been selected to work as interim US Attorney for the District of Columbia, plucked from one of Trump's favorite hiring pools: right-leaning television networks.
Other recruits from cable news encompass Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who co-hosted "Fox & Friends Weekend," as well as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, formerly a contestant on reality TV shows and also a co-host for Fox Business.
The selection happened shortly after Trump withdrew his initial choice for the position, a defense attorney who had represented individuals accused of involvement in the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
“I’m delighted to share that Judge Jeanine Pirro has been selected as the interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia,” Trump shared on his Truth Social account, referring to her previous role as the district attorney of New York’s Westchester County and noting that she “stands alone.”
Pirro made brief stabs at political office with unsuccessful bids for both the U.S. Senate seat and the position of New York Attorney General; she lost the latter contest to the Democratic candidate Andrew Cuomo.
She began earning wider public exposure by hosting a weekday television show, "Judge Jeanine Pirro," from 2008 to 2011. That year she joined Fox News Channel to host "Justice with Judge Jeanine," which ran for 11 years, and today she is a co-host of the network's show, "The Five."
Pirro has penned multiple books, one of which is "Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy," published in 2018. According to The Washington Post, this book was characterized as being overly supportive of Trump, labeling it "sycophantic."
Following her promotion of baseless conspiracy theories claiming electoral fraud in 2020, Pirro became one of the defendants in a defamation suit brought forth by Dominion Voting Systems. The company alleged that Fox had aired false claims about their organization.
Fox News resolved the case by paying almost $800 million.