Former Fox News host and Judge Jeanine Pirro's nomination for top D.C. prosecutor advances
Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro has moved one step closer to taking on a long-term role as the top federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C., after a Senate committee voted to advance her nomination July 17.
The vote by the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee sets the stage for a vote by the full Senate on Pirro's bid to be the D.C. U.S. attorney. Pirro has already been serving in the role on an interim basis since mid-May, after Trump withdrew the nomination of Ed Martin in the face of opposition from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) due to Martin's support for Jan. 6-related defendants.
The D.C. U.S. attorney's office is a particularly critical prosecutorial office, with the responsibility for enforcing laws for the nation's top government officials. The office was behind well over 1,000 prosecutions against defendants accused of committing crimes during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol to block the peaceful transfer of power following Joe Biden's 2020 presidential election. Trump granted clemency to all the Jan. 6 defendants on his first day in office in 2025.
Pirro had a long history as a prosecutor before becoming a Fox News mainstay.
She served as the elected district attorney for Westchester County, New York, for three consecutive terms, from 1994 to 2005. There, she started the first domestic violence unit within a U.S. prosecutorial office, according to her Justice Department biography.
Pirro also served as a county judge for a few years, starting in 1990.
At her swearing-in ceremony for the interim D.C. U.S. attorney role, Pirro described her relationship with Trump in personal terms, saying that he has remained "steadfast as one of my earliest supporters and champions."
This story has been updated with additional information.