Trump names Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. attorney for D.C.

Pirro, known as “Judge Jeanine,” has served as a district attorney and a judge. She replaces embattled nominee Ed Martin.

By Jeremy Barr, Spencer S. Hsu and Maegan Vazquez

Jeanine Pirro has long stood out as one of Donald Trump's most reliable backers on Fox News, often taking his critics to task in stark and colorful language. (Mike Theiler/AFP via Getty Images/file)

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is appointing Jeanine Pirro, a Fox News host and longtime Trump ally, to serve as the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Trump, announcing the appointment on Truth Social, called Pirro, a former New York county judge and district attorney, “incredibly well qualified for this position.”

Pirro’s appointment comes the same day that Trump said he would replace interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin, his embattled nominee to serve as the top prosecutor for D.C., after 15 tumultuous weeks in office.

Among a stable of conservative commentators who have vociferously defended Trump on Fox News, Pirro has long stood out as one of his most reliable backers, often taking his critics to task in stark and colorful language.

Before beginning her television career, Pirro served as a judge in Westchester County, New York, in the early 1990s, earning her the “Judge Jeanine” moniker that is still a central part of her on-screen appeal. She was elected district attorney of Westchester County in 1993, a role she held until 2005. She ran a short-lived campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2006, hoping to take on then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, but dropped out amid pressure from her party.

Pirro joined Fox News as a legal analyst in 2006 and began hosting her own show on Saturday nights, “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” five years later. In 2022, she became a co-host of the conservative-leaning talk show “The Five,” offering her a daily presence on the network.

Anchor Bret Baier was the one to break the news of Pirro’s appointment to Fox viewers on Thursday. “She will be leaving Fox to take this position,” he said on-air. “We obviously wish her well.” (An hour earlier, Pirro did not appear on her daily Fox show as usual.)

A Fox News spokesperson said that Pirro’s departure from the network is effective immediately.

“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 spokesperson said. “We wish her all the best in her new role in Washington.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Pirro would lead the nation’s largest and one of its most powerful U.S. attorney offices. The D.C. office has more than 350 prosecutors and unique authority to prosecute both local and federal crimes in the nation’s capital, as well as public corruption, national security and other sensitive matters in the seat of the federal government.

Pirro has long described herself a friend of the Trump family, and wrote in her 2018 book Liars, Leakers & Liberals about joining them on flights back to Florida, recounting an incident in which she made Eric Trump queasy after taking a turn in the cockpit.

At the end of Trump’s first term, in what was viewed as a well-earned gesture of friendship, Trump pardoned Pirro’s ex-husband, Albert J. Pirro Jr., who had been convicted on tax evasion charges.

Pirro has long been mentioned as a potential Trump appointee, considering her loyalty to him and prominent role in the conservative media ecosystem. In 2018, she denied being considered for the Supreme Court, though she acknowledged in an appearance on ABC’s “The View” that she spoke with Trump “quite often.” Around the same time, Politico reported that Pirro had lobbied to serve as Trump’s attorney general. This past January, Pirro denied that she would accept a role in the second Trump administration, after his director of presidential personnel, Sergio Gor, seemed to suggest she would do so during an inauguration weekend ball. Gor had been joking, Pirro said through a Fox News spokesperson.

Pirro’s Fox News career ran into trouble in 2019, when, she said, she was suspended by the network for incendiary comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Trump came to her defense at the time, writing “Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro” on Twitter.

Pirro was a regular promoter of unproven claims about the integrity of the 2020 election, earning herself a prominent role in the defamation lawsuit brought against Fox by Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s coverage. An episode of her show after the election “was cancelled because executives were worried about her discussing conspiracy theories,” the Delaware judge overseeing the case concluded.

Pirro is currently a defendant in the $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit filed against Fox by another voting technology company, Smartmatic. That case could go to trial later this year in New York.

Pirro is only the latest Fox News employee — and the third full-time host after Pete Hegseth and Sean P. Duffy — to get appointed to Trump’s administration, leaving the network with several holes to fill.

So far, at least 20 current or former Fox employees have accepted roles. Trump has also appointed three current Fox employees to roles that did not require them to leave their jobs at the network. Weekend host Mark Levin was named to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and hosts Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo were appointed to the board of the Kennedy Center.