Jeanine Pirro

Jeanine Ferris Pirro, professionally known as Jeanine Pirro is an American television host, author, and a former judge, prosecutor, and politician. She is the host of Fox News Channel’s Justice with Judge Jeanine and a contributor to NBC News, including The Today Show. She was the first female judge elected in Westchester County. Subsequently, she was elected the first female District Attorney of Westchester County. She is known for her staunchly pro-Trump commentary.

Fox News cancels Jeanine Pirro’s show: Donald Trump Says ‘Bring Her Back’

Jeanine Pirro drew massive criticism after she made a controversial comment on Rep. Ilhan Omar in March 2019. She said that Omar wearing a hijab could signal that she is beholden to “Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution”.

Her statement drew criticism that led her to clarify her remarks. She later clarified that she did not mean to insist that Representative Omar was Anti-American because of her faith. She said she actually intended to start a discussion.

Following the controversy, Fox News, On 16 March 2019, decided not to air Pirro’s show. They replaced her show with a previously aired documentary show. Fox News did not make further comments about the incident.

The US President went on to Twitter to defend Pirro saying, “Bring Back @JudgeJeanine Pirro”.

Known For

The first female judge elected in Westchester County

First female District Attorney of Westchester County

Her staunchly pro-Trump commentary

Early Life of Jeanine Pirro

Jeanine Pirro was born on 2 June 1951. Her birth name is Jeanine Ferris. She was born to Lebanese parents, Nasser “Leo”, a father, and Esther Ferris, a mother. Her birthplace is in Elmira, New York in the United States. She holds an American nationality. She is a practicing Catholic. She has stated that she knew she wanted to be an attorney from the age of 6.

She graduated from Notre Dame High School. She then interned in the Chemung County District Attorney’s office during her time in high school. She attended the University at Buffalo, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. She received her J.D. degree at Albany Law School of Union University in 1975. She was an editor of the law review.

Westchester County Law Career

Assistant District Attorney

She was appointed as Assistant District Attorney of Westchester County by Carl Vergari in 1975.

She began her career by writing appeals and handling minor cases.

She suggested Vergari apply for a federal grant for local district attorney’s offices to establish bureaus that specialized in domestic violence. His office became one of four in the nation to win the grant.

Vergari appointed Pirro to be the first chief of the new Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Bureau in 1978.

She was criticized for her attention-grabbing behavior and violations of tradition.

She attracted widespread attention and some criticism in 1990 for rushing to conduct a bedside arraignment of Maria Amaya at the Intensive Care unit of United Hospital in Port Chester. Amaya had killed the four children and attempted suicide after believing that they were being corrupted by drugs and sex. She was charged with four counts of second-degree murder.

Court Judge

She left the District Attorney’s office in November 1990 judge election. She became the judge of the Westchester County Court.

She became the first female judge in Westchester County defeating Lawrence D. Lenihan and August C. Nimphius, Jr.

District Attorney

She became the first female to become the District Attorney of Westchester County when she was elected in the position in November 1993.

She was re-elected in 1997 and 2001. She announced that she would not seek re-election to her fourth tenure as Westchester County District Attorney.

She was the first female president of the New York State District Attorney’s Association.

Then-Governor George Pataki also appointed her to chair the New York State Commission on Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board.

She repeatedly refused to reopen the murder case of Jeffrey Deskovic, who was falsely convicted of killing a 15-year-old girl and spent 16 years in prison. Later, he was exonerated by DNA evidence and won $41.6 million lawsuits against Daniel Stephens and Putnam County for the wrongful conviction.

Statewide Political Career

1986 Lieutenant Gubernatorial candidacy

In May 1986, Pirro was announced as the candidate for the Lieutenant gubernatorial. She was then an assistant district attorney.

Her candidacy frustrated many New York Republicans for her lack of political experience or statewide stature.

She announced her withdrawal from the election just one day prior to the scheduled vote. She withdrew the candidacy saying that her husband could not disclose his legal clients or the couple’s business interests and that many of his clients did business with the state, which would make it “virtually impossible” for her to serve as Lieutenant Governor.

2006 US Senate Campaign

She announced in August 2005 that she would seek the Republican nomination to challenge first-term incumbent Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, in the 2006 election for US Senator from New York.

John Spencer, William Brenner, Edward Cox were other Republicans who announced campaigns for the nominations.

Her campaign was damaged before it even started when she misplaced page 10 of her speech and went silent for 32 seconds.

George Pataki endorsed her and Cox withdrew from the race. Tommy Hilfiger and Donald Trump donated to her political campaign.

Following continuous pressure from party chiefs, she dropped out of the Senate race in December 2005.

Spencer was eventually chosen as the Republican Party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate.

Her campaign racked up $600,000 in debt to campaign vendors which still remains unpaid by 2019.

2006 State Attorney General campaign

In May 2006, she became the Republican Party’s official candidate for the Attorney General of New York by acclamation at the state GOP convention.

She lost the general election to the Democratic nominee, former Clinton Housing and Urban Development Secretary and future Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Author

She is the author of five books. Two of her books are crime novels.

Her first book, To Punish and Protect: A DA’s Fight Against a System That Coddles Criminals was published in 2003.

She published To Punish and Protect: Against a System That Coddles Criminals in 2004.

She published her first fiction novel, Sly Fox: A Dani Fox Novel in 2012.

She released her second novel, Clever Fox: A Dani Fox Novel in 2014.

She released Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy in 2018. The book is about the Presidency of Donald Trump as well as the politics surrounding the anti-Trump movement.

Media Career

She also began her media career as a TV personality and commentator.

She has been a regular contributor to The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.

She is currently contributing to Today, Fox NY Good Day New York.

She is a legal analyst appearing on various shows.

She has guest-hosted shows such as Larry King Live, The Joy Behar Show, and Geraldo at Large.

She was a frequent guest of Fox’s late-night satire show, Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld.

She appears in the HBO six-part serial The Jinx. The series featured her perspective on the 1983 disappearance of Kathie Durst. It was a high-profile case for which she was the investigating attorney.

She was the host of the American reality primetime court show, Youth Jury. The show was canceled after two episodes.

Judge Jeanine Pirro on The CW

The CW announced in May 2008 that Pirro would host a weekday television show, Judge Jeanine Pirro.

The show was canceled due to low ratings in September 2011.

The show received its first Emmy nomination in 2010 and won the Daytime Emmy Award in 2011.

Justice with Judge Jeanine of Fox News

She is now the host of Fox News’ Justice with Judge Jeanine. The show focuses on the big legal stories of the week and it premiered in January 2011.

Pirro made controversial comments in March 2019 that Rep. IIhan Omar wearing hijab could signal that she is beholden to “Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution”. Fox News made a statement stating it a “rare rebuke of one of its star hosts”. Following criticisms, she clarified that she did not mean to insist that Representative Omar was Anti-American because of her faith. She said that she intended to start a discussion.

With negative responses, Fox News decided on 16 March 2019 to replace her show with a previously aired documentary show. Fox News has not made any further comments about the incident.

Who is Jeanine Married to?

She married Albert Pirro in 1975. Earlier, they met each other while in law school. The couple has two children, a son, and a daughter. The family moved to Harrison, New York after their marriage. She started working as an assistant district attorney, while her husband began working as a lobbyist.

Her husband was indicted by the office of United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York in February 1999 on one count of conspiracy, four counts of tax evasion, and 28 counts of filing a false tax return for hiding over $1 million in personal income as business expenses between 1988 and 1997. The Pirros defended the allegations. However, her husband was found guilty on 23 charges and not guilty of 10 and was sentenced to 29 months in a minimum-security federal prison. But, he received some leniency in exchange for waiving his right to appeal.

The Pirros separated in 2007 and their divorce was finalized in 2013.

What is Jeanine Pirro’s Net Worth?

Jeanine Pirro who started her career in law administration later pursued her career as a media personality as well. Starting from Assistant District Attorney of Westchester County, Court Judge, and then-District Attorney of Westchester County, she tried her luck in politics as well. She has written 5 books and has shown a strong appearance on television as well. As of 2019, her net worth is estimated at $12 million.