The Senate on Saturday approved the nomination of Jeanine Pirro, an ardent loyalist of President Trump and a Fox News fixture, confirming the cable news personality to a top prosecutor post in Washington, D.C.
Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected judge, was confirmed in a 50-45 vote. She has been in the job as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia on an acting basis since May. Before then, she co-hosted "The Five" on Fox News on weekday evenings, where she frequently interviewed Mr. Trump.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia is a powerful position with a huge staff, budget and portfolio. Her confirmation came days after the Senate approved the nomination of Emil Bove, Mr. Trump's former defense lawyer, to serve on a U.S. appeals court.
Majority Leader John Thune said the Senate will adjourn until Sept. 2 once they finish with the round of votes scheduled for Saturday evening.
"I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourns to then convene for pro forma session only," Thune said.
Senators have 12 votes remaining following Pirro's confirmation, which is why Thune asked for senators to stay in the chamber to expedite votes. There was no objection.
Mr. Trump on Saturday praised Republican senators and Thune for fighting to get his appointees approved. In his Truth Social post, Mr. Trump blamed Democrats for "doing everything possible to DELAY these wonderful and talented people from being approved."
Senate Republicans were undeterred by former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro’s election denialism. They confirmed her nomination to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia on Saturday night by a 50-45 vote.
After agreeing with a guest on her radio show earlier this year that January 6 prosecutors should face criminal charges, Pirro will now manage many of them.
President Donald Trump named Pirro the acting U.S. Attorney for D.C. in May. Before that, she had spent more than a decade as a Fox News host and pundit.
Pirro was one of the network’s loudest 2020 election conspiracy cheerleaders even after her own producers corrected her, as detailed in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit that Fox ultimately settled for $787 million.
Ahead of the vote, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) urged Pirro rejection in a letter to Senate leaders, saying she wouldn’t merely go along with Trump’s weaponization of federal law enforcement, but encourage it.
“Ms. Pirro has made clear that her personal loyalty to Donald Trump overrides whatever commitment she has to the Constitution, the rule of law, the truth, and the facts,” Raskin wrote. “During President Trump’s first term, Ms. Pirro had urged President Trump to pursue his political opponents, including Hillary Clinton.”
As the final vote counts showed Trump losing in 2020, Pirro argued baselessly that the tally shift was evidence of a conspiracy. “The Dominion Software System has been tagged as one allegedly capable of flipping votes,” Pirro claimed on air.
A week later, Pirro repeated those false allegations in a monologue.
In her responses to Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaires, Pirro said she was unaware that Trump gave full pardons to January 6 rioters convicted of assaulting police officers, when in fact around 600 Jan. 6 defendants were charged with assaulting or obstructing law enforcement.
Sadly, this is the world we live in now.
Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News host known for pushing Trump’s 2020 election lies, has been confirmed as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Pirro was a central figure in the $787.5 million Dominion defamation case, where Fox admitted the fraud claims she helped spread were false.
He’s a tax evader and a flashy New York businessman who cheated on his wife, and Donald Trump just gave him a last-minute pardon.
Trump on Wednesday morning issued a full pardon to Al Pirro Jr., the ex-husband of one of Trump’s most slavishly loyal supporters in the media, Jeanine Pirro, host of Fox News’ “Justice with Judge Jeanine.”
The pardon, announced less than 45 minutes before Joe Biden was sworn in as president, appeared to be the last gasp of executive clemency by Trump, who in the past two months eagerly rewarded friends, sycophants and run-of-the-mill people who fell afoul of the law. [...]
Al Pirro, a businessman and lawyer known for his sharp clothes and well-coiffed silver mane of hair, was convicted at a trial in New York federal court in 2000 of conspiracy and tax evasion in connection with illegally deducting $1.2 million of personal expenses as write-offs for his business.
Pirro was sentenced to 29 months in prison at the same time his then-wife Jeanine was the Westchester County, New York, district attorney, the top state-level law enforcement official in the county.
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