In a political plot twist that feels more like prime-time TV than a personnel decision, Donald Trump has named former Fox News firebrand Jeanine Pirro as the interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. The move comes after Trump’s initial pick, Ed Martin, crashed into a Senate wall of resistance that even his MAGA credentials couldn’t bulldoze.
Martin, a vocal defender of January 6 rioters and a self-proclaimed crusader against the so-called “weaponization” of government, never managed to win over Senate Republicans — let alone Democrats. His nomination withered this week when GOP Senator Thom Tillis publicly pulled the plug, citing concerns over Martin’s take on the Capitol insurrection.
“I was disappointed. A lot of people were disappointed,” Trump said during a White House appearance, sounding more annoyed than apologetic.
Pirro, meanwhile, enters the fray not just with a gavel but with years of TV monologues, courtroom experience, and enough political baggage to require its own luggage cart. A former judge and prosecutor from Westchester County, she’s known for her hard-charging rhetoric and, more recently, her starring role in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation saga. Her show on Fox was among those that fanned election fraud theories — a storm that ended in a $787 million settlement.
Still, Trump praised her as a fearless crime-fighter. “Jeanine was a powerful crusader for victims of crime,” he wrote on Truth Social, highlighting her past work creating a Domestic Violence Bureau in New York. “She excelled in all ways.”
Martin, whose interim appointment ends May 20, won’t be vanishing. Trump announced he’s sliding him into a trio of roles at the Department of Justice, including Director of the Weaponization Working Group — a made-for-Fox-soundbite title if there ever was one.
“I think we did it a little differently,” Martin said about his time in the D.C. office, glossing over the controversies, firings, and eyebrow-raising prosecutorial decisions. He was known for pushing firearm cases while simultaneously threatening to investigate members of Congress who pushed back on Trump’s agenda. That, plus his vocal support for January 6 defendants and legal work defending some of them, painted a picture that even some Republicans found hard to stomach.
Democrats, meanwhile, were outright hostile. “Ed Martin is unfit to practice law, let alone serve as a United States Attorney,” said Senator Adam Schiff, who had placed a hold on the nomination.
Pirro isn’t likely to get a smooth ride either. Senate Democrats are expected to grill her over her role in amplifying false election claims and her 2019 suspension from Fox after controversial remarks about Representative Ilhan Omar.
Still, in Trump’s orbit, television loyalty and ideological zeal often outweigh political feasibility. And with the clock ticking down on Martin’s tenure, Trump didn’t blink — he reached for a name America already knows.
Whether Pirro’s next chapter will be a courtroom crusade or another battle with political blowback remains to be seen. But one thing’s certain: D.C.’s top federal prosecutor’s seat just got a whole lot louder.
