MEDIA
Fox bosses privately called U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro 'reckless maniac' and more

SEPTEMBER 4, 2025 5:00 AM ET
David Folkenflik


Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, speaks during a news conference on Aug. 26 in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

A Fox News executive has called a prominent Trump appointee a "reckless maniac." … Another Fox executive said, "I don't trust her to be responsible." … A third condemned her for the "tendency to find random conspiracy theories on weird internet sites." … And a Fox corporate board member called a public statement of hers "insane."

The person they were talking about is Jeanine Pirro, now the United States' top law enforcement official for Washington, D.C. At the time, she was a top-rated star on Fox News itself.

Her colleagues made those remarks in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, when Pirro used her platform to amplify baseless claims that victory had been stolen from President Trump. … The exchanges are quoted in legal documents made public last month in a defamation lawsuit brought by Smartmatic, a voting technology company, against Fox News. Pirro is named as a defendant.

As the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Pirro is the public face of Trump's crackdown on crime in the district, with armed troops and federal law enforcement officers patrolling neighborhoods. … "At some point in the near future, she's going to be really tested — like all U.S. attorneys with these kinds of big posts are," says Sarah Isgur, an attorney who served as a senior official in the U.S. Justice Department during President Trump's first term. "And we'll find out whether those comments were prescient or whether she really does understand the difference between the two hats."

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