It started with a question any public official might expect — but Jeanine Pirro reacted like she had been cornered and had to fight her way out.
The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia jawboned a reporter asking about Capitol police officers who feel unprotected after Donald Trump pardoned the Jan. 6 rioters who injured them four years ago.
“Look, I’m not here to satisfy people’s feelings if they feel bad, I’m here to prosecute crimes,” Pirro gruffed during an Aug. 11 interview with Fox 5 DC.
That moment, clipped and posted online, quickly became a lightning rod. By nightfall, Pirro was trending across multiple platforms, accused of being “drunk,” “unhinged,” and “unprofessional” as she defended Trump’s unprecedented move to seize control of D.C.’s police force. Critics said her combative answers — delivered with visible irritation — only deepened questions about her judgment.
“This woman wouldn’t be hired at McDonald’s,” one commenter wrote on Threads. Another fumed: “Our government isn’t supposed to be a halfway house for unrepentant alcoholics, but somehow it’s become one.”
The backlash came after a tense week, with Trump continuing to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal by putting boots on the ground in the nation’s capital. On Sunday, Trump ordered the National Guard into the capital and placed its police force under direct federal control — a move justified by what he called “rising violence.” However, his claims run directly counter to the city’s own crime statistics, which show steep declines since 2023.
Since the announcement, Pirro — a former Fox News host, lawyer, and author who took over as U.S. attorney in May — has been on the defensive. Whenever facing the media, she’s been irritable, pushing back, and not in the mood for any direct questions.
The social media pile-on was relentless.
“This is why you shouldn’t put drunk, stupid former Fox News hosts into government positions,” another user posted. One commenter reminded her pointedly: “5 of them are dead. 140 were injured. Some didn’t return to duty for months.” Others took aim at Pirro’s tone: “If they feel bad — how about dead? How about heart attacks? You’re just another of Trump’s cruel and unqualified minions.”
The insults kept coming: “What a skag,” “Totally unprofessional and incompetent,” and “Another disgusting appointment to the disgraceful regime.” One summed up the mood: “This administration is absolutely dripping with stupidity. Pure, uncut, raw, unadulterated idiocy.”
The trouble didn’t end with the Jan. 6 question. In another heated exchange, a reporter pressed Pirro on crime prevention.
“You just walked through the changes you’d like to see from the punitive aspects. What about preventative? Do you or the president plan to do anything to address the root causes of crime in D.C., such as truancy?”
Pirro, sounding exasperated, took a beat before replying: “My job is to try to heal the victims and prosecute the criminal. Everybody else can deal with rehabilitating the individual. I honestly am not concerned about why they commit crimes. My concern is if they commit crimes. My concern is the victims of the crimes. That’s my job as a U.S. Attorney. Go ahead.”
When another reporter began to ask about DOJ funding cuts to gun violence prevention programs, Pirro cut her off: “Oh, stop it! We are putting all kinds of resources onto the street,” she said, slapping the microphone back onto the podium.
While Trump’s justification for the takeover hinges on the idea of spiraling violence, the numbers tell a different story. Violent crime in Washington surged in 2023 to its highest homicide count since the late 1990s, but then dropped 32 percent in 2024 and another 12 percent so far in 2025. Carjackings, which nearly doubled in 2023, have been cut by more than half. Crime analyst Jeff Asher says D.C.’s violent crime rate is now as low as it’s been since the 1960s.
National data mirrors the trend. FBI figures show violent crime fell 4.5 percent in 2024, with murders down nearly 15 percent, robberies down 8.9 percent, and aggravated assaults down 3 percent. Property crimes dropped even more, including a 10-18 percent plunge in motor vehicle theft. A mid-2025 report from the Council on Criminal Justice found continued declines across 42 major cities, including double-digit drops in homicide, robbery, and carjacking.
Critics say Trump is relying on outdated 2023 figures as a political pretext to target cities with Black mayors who oppose his immigration policies. They note that while D.C.’s crime rate remains higher than the national average, its recent progress mirrors other historically high-crime cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit.
Yet, from campaign rallies to press briefings, Trump describes a country under siege. He has hinted at extending his D.C. model to other “lawless” cities — even as the data shows crime is trending down. That disconnect, critics argue, makes Pirro’s volatile performance this week all the more revealing.
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