Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee moved ahead on Thursday with Jeanine Pirro’s nomination to permanently serve as the U.S. district attorney for the District of Columbia.
They proceeded without any Democrats on the committee, however, because they all walked out as Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) moved to vote on a batch of judicial nominees.
Earlier, Democrats had targeted the nomination of Emil Bove, who represented President Donald Trump in a New York criminal case, to a U.S. Court of Appeals nomination. Bove has also served as acting deputy attorney general.
In May, Trump tapped Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as acting U.S. attorney, the latest network personality to join his administration. Pirro was a vocal Trump defender on Fox’s top-rated panel show “The Five.”
“Jeanine is incredibly well qualified for this position, and is considered one of the Top District Attorneys in the History of the State of New York. She is in a class by herself,” Trump posted on Truth Social when announcing her selection.
But there was never any real chance Democrats on the Judiciary Committee were going to vote in favor of Pirro’s nomination.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the ranking member, wrote on X on Wednesday that Pirro was “a January 6 apologist, siding with violent insurrectionists over law enforcement by supporting criminal charges against line prosecutors handling insurrection-related cases. She’s an election denialist, recklessly peddling President Trump’s Big Lie despite even her own Fox News producers and executives warning her to reel it in.”
He also warned that Pirro would be a “Trump loyalist, vengefully attacking his perceived political opponents and showing no willingness to put the rule of law ahead of the President’s wishes.”
But Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said that Pirro would be primarily focused on reducing crime in the nation’s capital, Deadline.com reported.
This week, Pirro sued three Corporation for Public Broadcasting board members, alleging they remain in their roles despite having been dismissed by Trump.
The CPB challenged Trump’s removal of Tom Rothman, Laura Ross, and Diane Kaplan from its board. A federal judge refused to grant an immediate injunction restoring their seats but warned that Trump still couldn’t seize control of the board, noting that the corporation’s newly amended bylaws curtail the president’s authority.
Pirro wrote on X, “The President legally removed three board members of Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They sued to stay. The court ruled against them and yet they ignored the court decision and stayed. It’s time for them to go!!”
Democrats argue the GOP hurried Bove’s confirmation despite revelations from former DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni, who alleges Bove advocated defying court orders in immigration cases. They also questioned his involvement in the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein investigation, which produced an agency statement denying the existence of any “client list.”
“If you want to force this through, if you want to ram this through, there is a way to do it in accordance to the rules as spelled out by the parliamentarian,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), said to Grassley as other Democrats walked out, with him eventually following suit.
Grassley said at the end of the hearing, “What happened here today is no different than” when Democrats cut off debate on past judicial appointments when they were in the majority and controlled the panel.
“This is not unprecedented,” Grassley said. “… It’s happened before, and we have to move things along.”
Maeanwhile, top-rated podcaster and former Fox News star Megyn Kelly is calling out MAGA media figures like Laura Ingraham for backing off the Epstein story after Trump declared it a Democrat “hoax.”
On her podcast, Kelly expressed her shock at Ingraham’s abrupt silence, particularly after years of vocally criticizing Epstein.
“You now have some MAGA influencers, clearly on direction of the White House, saying, ‘OK, I’m done,’” Kelly said.