May 9, 2025 • 6 mins
Shannon Kingston talks to Mendte in the Morning about the appointment of Jeanine Pirro as top prosecutor in DC.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's get the latest right now on all of this
with Shannon Kingston, ABC News correspondent in Washington. Hey, Shannon,
you want a job in the administration, go work at Fox,
put a little bit of time in, and then you'll
get a job with Trump.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah. I guess that's the pathway here, if that's what
the goal is. But there might be hope for Fox
News is staffing yet, and that's because we don't know
how long this position that Jeanine Piro is taking, how
long it's gonna last, because the President the White House
have not yet indicated is whether they're going to go
(00:34):
ahead and pursue Senate confirmation or whether this is going
to be really just an introim role. The cap on
that is one hundred and twenty days.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Really, so every time they say there's somebody interim, you
think that they're, oh, they're eventually going to have the
job forever, I mean at least throughout the administration. But
that's not the case, Hans. So this might just be
a placeholder, right.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Because usually the way things go, you are the acting
such and such position, you go through, you have your
confirmation hearing, the vote happened, you get the job. Or
you don't. That has not exactly been the case this
time around. The President has relied on a pretty generous
interpretation of his appointment powers, his ability to put the
people he wants in the seats where he wants them,
(01:23):
and that's really cut the Senate out of the process.
So we are expecting here that it's very likely that
this could be challenged by the courts, especially if after
Judge Piros twenty days are up, if the President moves
to just appoint someone else in that position position in
an interim role. And the question there then becomes, how
(01:43):
will the courts decide? If they rule with the president,
that's going to significantly cement his broader powers. But if
they rule against him, it could disrupt a lot of
criminal cases, potentially overturning any indictments that happened between roughly
now and then.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
This all happened because he pulled Ed Martin, who was
of the first nominee for US Attorney for the District
of Columbia. Explain what happened with him.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So basically, Ed Martin is a conservative activist, and he
failed to attract the level of support from Senate Republicans
that he would need to ultimately win confirmation. They're concerns
about his ties to divisive political issues, his defense of
January sixth riders, and also just some overall questions about
(02:32):
his level of experience. But Ed Martin, he's not totally out.
The President has announced that he'll be serving as the
pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice, and that he's
also going to be leading a DOJ working group on weaponization,
so looking into how and if that department has been
used against political adversaries in the past.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
So j name Piero if she doesn't have to. By
the way, I was really looking forward to the confirmation hearing.
I thought that was going to be musty television to
see Janine Piro taking on the confirmation committee. So I'm
extremely disappointed that you're saying that that may not happen
after all. But is there is there is there a
(03:17):
reason why Janine Piro to be the interim US attorney.
Is there something specific he wants him in there for
her in therefore.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Look, she's an ally of the president, she's always been
for decades, really has been close to President Trump. She's
obviously has a lot of experience being on TV. That's
something that can endear people to the president, but she
really does have a significant amount of experience as well.
She was elected as judge in New York's Westchester County,
(03:48):
so not too far away from you, in nineteen ninety
and it's before serving three terms as a county's elected
district attorney, so she does have experience there. But then
when you get to concern some of them are the
same as Ed Martin because she has her own connection
to baseless conspiracy theories of election fraud. She was named
in that lawsuit against Fox News by the voting technology
(04:11):
company smart Mattic USA because of things that she and
other Fox News hosts and reporters have said about the
alleged that stop the steel movement.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Right, I get that, I guess. I keep going back
to the question of why then it's just just though
she can have the title. Is it because he wants
her to fight something that's specifically on the docket right
now or I'm not sure why it would just be
interim I understand the confirmation hearing would still be difficult,
(04:47):
but this has got to be just an ego thing,
just so she can say that she was once the
US attorney for the District of Columbia.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well, it is a very important position. He often has
more than three hundred and fifty prosecutors working for it,
and a unique ability to prosecute both local and federal
crimes here in d C. Public corruption, national security, all
other sense of matters. So it really is a significant
role and one that you know, if Piro was giving
(05:18):
the president significant insight, significant oversight into that's something that
expands his power, you know, gives him maybe the ability
to pursue cases that he sees more in fitting with
his agenda. And it is possible that the White House
could try to to forge ahead with confirmation. I do
think that the lack of support for Ed Martin among
(05:40):
the Republicans is something of a surprise for the White House.
So I think it's very possible they still could be
formulating their strategy, figuring out where they want to go next.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Oh I hope, So, I really really hope. So that's
must see television. I can't wait for that. I hope
there's a confirmation hearing. I can't tell you how disappointed
I was when you said that, Shannon, how because I
was looking forward to this more than most things, more
than any of the big games ruined as weekend.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I hate to be the bearer of that.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Want a little bit of hope there, Shannon Kingston, a
VC News correspondent in Washington, leaving me with a little
bit of hope that I can be I can watch this.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Thanks so much, Jannon, of course, thank you,
Let's get the latest right now on all of this
with Shannon Kingston, ABC News correspondent in Washington. Hey, Shannon,
you want a job in the administration, go work at Fox,
put a little bit of time in, and then you'll
get a job with Trump.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah. I guess that's the pathway here, if that's what
the goal is. But there might be hope for Fox
News is staffing yet, and that's because we don't know
how long this position that Jeanine Piro is taking, how
long it's gonna last, because the President the White House
have not yet indicated is whether they're going to go
(00:34):
ahead and pursue Senate confirmation or whether this is going
to be really just an introim role. The cap on
that is one hundred and twenty days.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Really, so every time they say there's somebody interim, you
think that they're, oh, they're eventually going to have the
job forever, I mean at least throughout the administration. But
that's not the case, Hans. So this might just be
a placeholder, right.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Because usually the way things go, you are the acting
such and such position, you go through, you have your
confirmation hearing, the vote happened, you get the job. Or
you don't. That has not exactly been the case this
time around. The President has relied on a pretty generous
interpretation of his appointment powers, his ability to put the
people he wants in the seats where he wants them,
(01:23):
and that's really cut the Senate out of the process.
So we are expecting here that it's very likely that
this could be challenged by the courts, especially if after
Judge Piros twenty days are up, if the President moves
to just appoint someone else in that position position in
an interim role. And the question there then becomes, how
(01:43):
will the courts decide? If they rule with the president,
that's going to significantly cement his broader powers. But if
they rule against him, it could disrupt a lot of
criminal cases, potentially overturning any indictments that happened between roughly
now and then.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
This all happened because he pulled Ed Martin, who was
of the first nominee for US Attorney for the District
of Columbia. Explain what happened with him.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
So basically, Ed Martin is a conservative activist, and he
failed to attract the level of support from Senate Republicans
that he would need to ultimately win confirmation. They're concerns
about his ties to divisive political issues, his defense of
January sixth riders, and also just some overall questions about
(02:32):
his level of experience. But Ed Martin, he's not totally out.
The President has announced that he'll be serving as the
pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice, and that he's
also going to be leading a DOJ working group on weaponization,
so looking into how and if that department has been
used against political adversaries in the past.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
So j name Piero if she doesn't have to. By
the way, I was really looking forward to the confirmation hearing.
I thought that was going to be musty television to
see Janine Piro taking on the confirmation committee. So I'm
extremely disappointed that you're saying that that may not happen
after all. But is there is there is there a
(03:17):
reason why Janine Piro to be the interim US attorney.
Is there something specific he wants him in there for
her in therefore.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Look, she's an ally of the president, she's always been
for decades, really has been close to President Trump. She's
obviously has a lot of experience being on TV. That's
something that can endear people to the president, but she
really does have a significant amount of experience as well.
She was elected as judge in New York's Westchester County,
(03:48):
so not too far away from you, in nineteen ninety
and it's before serving three terms as a county's elected
district attorney, so she does have experience there. But then
when you get to concern some of them are the
same as Ed Martin because she has her own connection
to baseless conspiracy theories of election fraud. She was named
in that lawsuit against Fox News by the voting technology
(04:11):
company smart Mattic USA because of things that she and
other Fox News hosts and reporters have said about the
alleged that stop the steel movement.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Right, I get that, I guess. I keep going back
to the question of why then it's just just though
she can have the title. Is it because he wants
her to fight something that's specifically on the docket right
now or I'm not sure why it would just be
interim I understand the confirmation hearing would still be difficult,
(04:47):
but this has got to be just an ego thing,
just so she can say that she was once the
US attorney for the District of Columbia.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well, it is a very important position. He often has
more than three hundred and fifty prosecutors working for it,
and a unique ability to prosecute both local and federal
crimes here in d C. Public corruption, national security, all
other sense of matters. So it really is a significant
role and one that you know, if Piro was giving
(05:18):
the president significant insight, significant oversight into that's something that
expands his power, you know, gives him maybe the ability
to pursue cases that he sees more in fitting with
his agenda. And it is possible that the White House
could try to to forge ahead with confirmation. I do
think that the lack of support for Ed Martin among
(05:40):
the Republicans is something of a surprise for the White House.
So I think it's very possible they still could be
formulating their strategy, figuring out where they want to go next.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Oh I hope, So, I really really hope. So that's
must see television. I can't wait for that. I hope
there's a confirmation hearing. I can't tell you how disappointed
I was when you said that, Shannon, how because I
was looking forward to this more than most things, more
than any of the big games ruined as weekend.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I hate to be the bearer of that.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Want a little bit of hope there, Shannon Kingston, a
VC News correspondent in Washington, leaving me with a little
bit of hope that I can be I can watch this.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Thanks so much, Jannon, of course, thank you,
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