Donald Trump’s allies believe that U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro’s decision to convene a rare special grand jury is a desperate ploy to get back into the president’s good books.
Pirro quietly pulled an unusual move to convene a secretive special grand jury in Washington, D.C., this week—which are usually sought for more complicated cases involving organized crime, financial fraud, or government officials—although the reason for doing so remains unclear.
The move came amid growing speculation that Trump could fire Pirro after she embarrassed the president by dropping the charges against former Olympian David Hearn, who had been accused of sabotaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Pirro’s office announced that the damage to the pool’s lining was actually the result of the “rushed and flawed” installation work of a contractor hired to carry out Trump’s renovation project, rather than vandalism.
Trump officials and allies are rolling their eyes at Pirro’s actions, with an administration official telling Semafor that the U.S. attorney is merely trying to appease the president and “save her job at all costs.”
Trump is still pushing the false claim that the reflecting pool was targeted by vandals even after his own handpicked U.S. attorney said there is no evidence to suggest this.
“Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals. THERE CAN BE NO GREATER INSULT TO THOSE AMERICAN HEROES WHO DIED IN WORLD WAR II,” Trump posted on Truth Social Friday. “First the Reflecting Pool, now this. We are on their trail! Where do these animals come from???”
Pirro’s special grand jury will be overseen by her top ally Steven Vandervelden, who helped the former Fox News host launch other controversial probes.
This includes the since-dropped investigation into former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over allegations that the longtime Trump nemesis lied to Congress about the ballooning costs of renovations to Federal Reserve buildings.
Sources told The Washington Post, which first reported on the special grand jury, that Pirro’s move is notable, given that Trump has long used federal agencies such as the Department of Justice to target his adversaries.
Unlike normal juries, a special grand jury can deliver damning reports exposing subjects even if prosecutors lack the evidence to secure an indictment.
As Semafor noted, Pirro convened the special grand jury just days after her office received a contempt-of-Congress recommendation against Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The GOP-controlled Senate oversight committee voted to hold the former chief White House medical adviser, who led the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in contempt for invoking the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during a hearing last month.
Fauci refused to answer questions because he believed Republicans were trying to entrap and prosecute him over disputed allegations that he misled the American public about the origins of the virus.
Fauci and Trump frequently clashed over the seriousness of COVID-19 and how to respond to the virus, which went on to kill more than 1.2 million people in the U.S.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Jeanine Pirro’s office for comment.
