Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro announced the latest criminal indictment and sentences in Washington, D.C., in her first act as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, marking the start of her interim appointment by President Donald Trump.
On the same day she was sworn into office, Pirro unveiled on Wednesday evening the punishment for two men who carried out a broad-daylight drive-by shooting near a D.C. elementary school.
Rasheed Mullins, 27, and Josiah Warfield, 24, were each sentenced to over seven years in federal prison for their roles in the April 2024 shooting. Mullins received 90 months; Warfield was sentenced to 100 months; both were ordered to serve five years of supervised release thereafter. Both men pleaded guilty earlier this year to assault with intent to kill while armed.
On Thursday, her office also announced the indictment of Te’Vaughn Brown, 20, for felony assault on a senior citizen before a Nationals baseball game last August, setting a trial to begin on July 14.
Pirro’s swearing-in earlier this week came with little public fanfare, perhaps due to Trump’s absence during his diplomatic trip to the Middle East.
Pirro, a former prosecutor from New York, replaced Ed Martin, who served in an interim capacity only for a few months after it became clear that he did not have enough Republican support in the Senate for confirmation. Her interim appointment is valid for 120 days under a provision of federal law that allows a temporary U.S. attorney when the post is vacant.
Amid Pirro’s appointment, Democratic lawmakers are already questioning Trump’s naming of a second interim attorney for the nation’s capital without Senate input.
This “untested and unprecedented use of the interim appointment authority … could subject the interim appointee’s actions to legal challenge,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said on X this week.
Addressing these concerns to the Washington Examiner, principal deputy press secretary Harris Fields said, “The appointment of Judge Jeanine Pirro to be the interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia is consistent with the law and the long-standing advice of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.”
After the 120-day interim period, the president must either nominate a permanent candidate for Senate confirmation or the district court may appoint a successor.
Despite Durbin’s concerns, Republicans have largely rallied behind Pirro. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called the move a “home run,” and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) praised her prosecutorial experience.
Trump has vowed to make the nation’s capital safe after years of rising crime rates, saying at a speech at the DOJ earlier this year that “we’re not going to have crime, and we’re not going to stand for crime.” So far, crime has fallen in D.C. this year, with robberies down 24%, homicides down 17%, and assaults with a dangerous weapon down 14%, according to Metropolitan Police crime data.
Pirro, 73, is a former judge and district attorney in Westchester County, New York, and was a longtime Fox News host known in part for her vocal support of Trump.
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The White House has not indicated whether the president will seek her Senate confirmation to hold the post permanently.
The Washington Examiner contacted the DOJ for comment.
