Former TV host confirmed as top prosecutor
WASHINGTON
The U.S. Senate on Aug. 2 confirmed former television personality and judge Jeanine Pirro to a key U.S. judiciary post, making her the latest Donald Trump-nominated Fox News host to join the government.
Pirro was confirmed to become the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in a 50-45 vote, as Trump urged the Republican-led Senate to work through the weekend to approve his nominations over six months after he returned to the White House.
Pirro was named to the position in an interim capacity by Trump, who has made a habit of filling powerful government posts with right-wing television network hosts and hardline loyalists, in May.
The brash 74-year-old former district attorney of New York's Westchester County was previously described by Trump as being "in a class by herself."
She made a name for herself hosting weekend television show "Judge Jeanine Pirro" (2008-2011) and then Fox News Channel's "Justice with Judge Jeanine," which ran for 11 years.
She was a co-host of Fox News's show "The Five" until she assumed her interim post, considered one of the most powerful U.S. attorney roles.
Pirro will join the ranks of other cable news hires like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who co-hosted "Fox & Friends Weekend," and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, a former reality TV show competitor and Fox Business co-host.
Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate's Judiciary Committee, said Pirro "should never be a permanent U.S. Attorney," calling her pick a "rubber stamp for Donald Trump."
Durbin cited Pirro's promotion of conspiracy theories in relation to the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.
