Donald Trump’s handpicked D.C. prosecutor, Jeanine Pirro, has quietly deployed a rare and aggressive legal weapon amid intense pressure from the White House to lock up the president’s political enemies.
The Justice Department has convened a special grand jury in Washington to probe major cases, a highly unusual move, The Washington Post reported. Unlike standard panels, this body can publish damning reports exposing subjects even if prosecutors lack the evidence to secure an indictment.
Overseeing the effort is Steven Vandervelden, a key Pirro ally previously tapped to investigate former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and D.C. police crime stats.
The drastic step comes as Pirro’s position grows increasingly perilous under newly confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has suffered a string of high-profile courtroom flops, failing to convict a man accused of throwing a sandwich at a federal agent, six Democratic lawmakers who urged troops to reject illegal orders, and Powell over a building renovation.
Her troubles escalated last week when Trump openly signaled her job was on the line after she dropped charges against former Olympian David Hearn over the damaged Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool liner.
“She choked,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office, when asked about Pirro.
Later, while boarding Air Force One, he was asked whether the former Fox News host’s job is safe. “I haven’t made a determination,” he said.
Investigators discovered the damage stemmed from a botched contractor job linked to Trump’s own Virginia golf course—though the department is reportedly hunting for minor misdemeanor charges to slap on Hearn anyway.
“This would add another bizarre turn to a sad chapter in the DOJ’s history and further harass an innocent man,” warned Hearn’s legal team, including Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Fund, Mary Dohrmann of Washington Litigation Group, and Steve Levin of Steptoe LLP.
With Washington’s standard grand juries repeatedly balking at Trump-backed indictments, Pirro’s new special panel offers a crucial workaround.
Rather than proving guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt” at trial, the 23-person body needs only a lower “preponderance of evidence” standard to draft a public, career-wrecking report—giving the administration the public scalp it craves.
The Daily Beast has contacted Pirro’s office for comment.
