Clear skies in Senate for DC federal prosecutor nominee Pirro

WASHINGTON (CN) — President Donald Trump’s new nominee to become U.S. attorney in D.C. appears to have a clear path to Senate confirmation, with the upper chamber’s lone Republican holdout committing to support her.

Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News host and New York district attorney, has been serving as the capital city’s acting federal prosecutor since May. The White House announced on Tuesday that it had formally tapped her for the full-time position.

But if there was any question whether Pirro’s nomination — which follows Ed Martin’s ill-fated appointment as D.C.’s U.S. attorney — would face the same roadblocks as her predecessor, those concerns were put to rest Wednesday as key Senate Republicans backed her ascent.

Chief among those was North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, whose opposition to Martin spelled his nomination’s doom in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Tillis had already signaled that he’d be open to voting for Pirro if she were nominated as the lead federal prosecutor for D.C., and he reaffirmed that support to reporters outside the Senate chamber Wednesday afternoon.

“I think she’s a good pick,” he said. “She won me over by characterizing the Jan. 6 people that assaulted Capitol Police officers as a bunch of thugs.”

The North Carolina Republican had refused to vote for Martin, a conservative legal activist and the former chairman of the Missouri Republican party, thanks in large part to the then-U.S. attorney nominee’s stance on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Martin had long been critical of the Joe Biden administration’s prosecution of rioters — a perspective that riled Tillis, who has said that anyone who breached the Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election should face fines or jail time.

Pirro, by contrast, rebuked the Capitol rioters in a 2021 episode of her Fox News show Justice with Judge Jeanine, during which she slammed people who stormed the Capitol as “deplorable, reprehensible and criminal.” She was, however, involved in lawsuits related to claims she made on television about the 2020 election and the “Stop the Steal” movement often associated with the Jan. 6 riot.

Tillis, who said that he had met with Pirro on Tuesday, told reporters that he would vote for the nominee.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz offered a curt endorsement, saying that Pirro was a “terrific choice” and that she would “do an excellent job” as U.S. attorney for D.C.

And Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, affirmed that the panel would follow the usual process for approving U.S. attorneys, under which Pirro will be required to submit questions for the congressional record and undergo a background check.

“I don’t expect that she’s going to have any trouble, at least, being approved,” Grassley told Courthouse News. “She might not have bipartisan support, but I don’t know yet.”

It’s unlikely that any Senate Democrats, at least on the Judiciary Committee, would cross the aisle to support Pirro — especially given the circumstances surrounding her nomination.

Pirro was tapped in early May to take over the D.C. U.S. attorney’s office from Martin, whose 120-day stint as the capital city’s interim federal prosecutor was drawing to a close. According to the law governing interim U.S. attorney appointments, the president may name an acting prosecutor for a district, but after that 120-day period expires without a permanent replacement, the onus for selecting another fill-in falls on the federal district court.

In the case of Martin, the statute holds that the U.S. District Court for D.C. had the authority to appoint another interim U.S. attorney until a full-time candidate was confirmed, but the White House’s move to tap Pirro for a subsequent term as acting prosecutor appeared to sidestep that process.

Democrats, including Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, said at the time that Pirro’s appointment represented an “untested and unprecedented” use of the president’s power to name interim government officials. Durbin said at the time that Democrats would be looking into the matter, but such an investigation has yet to be made public.

Senate Democrats are also sure to demand that the Judiciary Committee call Pirro in to testify during a hearing. Hearings are not traditional practice for U.S. attorney nominees, but Durbin demanded that the panel hold a hearing on Martin’s appointment — a request which the Republican majority rejected.

Asked about the possibility that Democrats would ask for a hearing on Pirro’s nomination, Grassley made clear that that wasn’t going to happen.

“We won’t have one,” he said. “We haven’t had a hearing on a U.S. attorney since 1982. You know why I know that? Because we had to have one on one of mine.”

Iowa U.S. attorney nominee Evan Hultman appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in April 1982, just a year after Grassley was elected to the Senate. Hultman faced questions about accusations that he had failed to prosecute two perjury suits in the late 1960s — as well as claims that he had attempted to cover up a diabetes diagnosis while seeking a promotion in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Meanwhile, in present day, Pirro’s nomination for D.C.’s top federal prosecutor has yet to be added to the Judiciary Committee agenda. The White House sent her nomination to the Senate on Monday.

Trump tapped Pirro as interim U.S. attorney for D.C. last month, just days after he rescinded his nomination for Martin amid cratering Senate support. Martin is now serving in the Justice Department as the agency’s lead pardon attorney.

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