Trump picks Jeanine Pirro as interim U.S. attorney for DC, appoints Martin at DOJ
President Donald Trump picked Fox News host and former prosecutor Jeanine Pirro for interim U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C., hours after announcing that he was pulling the nomination of Ed Martin.
Martin failed to get enough support 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 posted on Truth Social on May 8. “Jeanine was Assistant District Attorney for Westchester County, New York, and then went on to serve as County Judge, and District Attorney, where she was the first woman ever to be elected to those positions.”
Trump described Pirro as “crusader for victims of crime" and said she was “considered one of the Top District Attorneys in the History of the State of New York.”
Pirro, a former host of “Justice with Judge Jeanine” on Fox News for ten years, is currently the co-host of The Five, also on Fox News.
Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters that Martin was not “getting the support.”
Martin, who has championed Jan. 6 Capitol attackers, faced a rare opposition from a Republican senator. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Tillis said on May 6 that he decided not to support the nomination due to Martin's positions on Jan. 6 defendants.
"If Mr. Martin were being put forth as a US attorney for any district except the district where January 6th happened, the protest happened, I'd probably support him, but not in this district," Tillis told reporters.
By the end of the day, Trump had decided on a new role for Martin.
"Ed Martin has done an AMAZING job as interim U.S. Attorney, and will be moving to the Department of Justice as the new Director of the Weaponization Working Group, Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Pardon Attorney," wrote Trump on Truth Social. "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."
Contributing: Aysha Bagchi