Senate confirms ex-Fox Information host Pirro as prime federal prosecutor for nation’s capital : NPR

WASHINGTON — The Senate has confirmed former Fox Information host Jeanine Pirro as the highest federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital, filling the put up after President Donald Trump withdrew his controversial first decide, conservative activist Ed Martin Jr.

Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected choose, was confirmed 50-45. Earlier than changing into the performing U.S. Legal professional for the District of Columbia in Might, she co-hosted the Fox Information present “The 5” on weekday evenings, the place she steadily interviewed Trump.

Trump yanked Martin’s nomination after a key Republican senator stated he couldn’t help him as a consequence of Martin’s outspoken help for rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Martin now serves because the Justice Division’s pardon lawyer.

In 2021, voting expertise firm Smartmatic USA sued Fox Information, Pirro and others for spreading false claims that the corporate helped “steal” the 2020 presidential election from Trump. The corporate’s libel swimsuit, filed in a New York state court docket, sought $2.7 billion from the defendants.

Final month, Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to ship Pirro’s nomination to the Senate flooring after Democrats walked out to protest Emil Bove’s nomination to develop into a federal appeals court docket choose.

Pirro, a 1975 graduate of Albany Legislation College, has considerably extra courtroom expertise than Martin, who had by no means served as a prosecutor or tried a case earlier than taking workplace in January. She was elected as a choose in New York’s Westchester County Courtroom in 1990 earlier than serving three phrases because the county’s elected district lawyer.

Within the last minutes of his first time period as president, Trump issued a pardon to Pirro’s ex-husband, Albert Pirro, who was convicted in 2000 on conspiracy and tax evasion prices.