JUST IN: Senate Confirms Judge Jeanine Pirro For DOJ Role

Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro has been confirmed as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia —  a powerful position that comes with several additional responsibilities when compared with regional U.S. attorneys — after a contentious confirmation process.

Pirro, who had a lengthy career as a judge and prosecutor before her time in media, was one of the over 150 still outstanding nominees on the Senate’s calendar as Senate Republicans pushed through a grueling process to confirm as many nominees as possible before senators left the nation’s capital for the August recess.  Senate Democrats have launched an unprecedented blockade against Trump’s nominees, leading to a historically low number of judicial confirmations by this point in a presidential term.

For comparison, Trump had just one judicial nominee confirmed as of last week. By this point in former President Barack Obama’s first term, 26 nominees had already been confirmed.

Republicans had attempted to negotiate a deal in order to allow for rapid-fire votes on dozens of nominees, though the plan was derailed after President Trump refused to submit to Democrat demands in regards to freeing up funds that are currently being withheld. As a result, just seven nominees were confirmed Saturday before the upper chamber left D.C. until September.

Pirro, who was confirmed by a 50-45 vote, was one of the seven nominees to be officially confirmed after serving in her current position on an interim basis since May.

Pirro was appointed to the highly important position after Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) refused to support the confirmation of Ed Martin, who had been serving as interim D.C. U.S. attorney since President Trump took office back in January. Tillis, who recently announced his retirement after additional clashes with President Trump, took issue with Martin’s advocacy for January 6 political prisoners and informed the president that he would not be supporting the nomination.

After Martin’s nomination was derailed, Trump immediately pivoted by appointing Pirro, 73. “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. Congratulations Jeanine!” the president posted on Truth Social at the time.

In her current capacity, Pirro’s workload goes far beyond that of other regional U.S. attorneys throughout the country, as the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office is responsible for prosecuting both federal and local crimes.

The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office handles all federal cases in the District of Columbia including drug trafficking, sex trafficking, child pornography, federal firearms violations, white-collar crime, public corruption, and terrorism cases. The office handles all local cases in the district, ranging from misdemeanors to murders.

In addition, the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office represents the U.S. government in civil proceedings filed in federal courts in D.C., including challenges to federal policies, employment practices, and cases involving national security or government operations. This includes federal campaign finance violations, as well as cases involving members of congress, federal agencies or high-profile public corruption.

Pirro previously served as the District Attorney in Westchester County, New York, for over a decade. Prior to that, she served as a judge on the county bench in the early 1990s.

Her confirmation comes a few days after Democrats stormed out of the chamber in protest of the nominations of Pirro and Emil Bove, who was confirmed to a  spot on a federal appeals court last week in a 50-49 vote. Pirro ultimately managed to advance from the committee vote, which broke down along party lines.