All 23 members of the D.C. grand jury stood up and said no!
Once again, attorneys all over the country are snark-laughing at D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s latest failed attempt to indict a ham sandwich American citizens resisting the authoritarian takeover. This time her target was six “seditious” congresscritters who urged members of the military to read the Uniform Code of Military Justice provision pertaining to compliance with lawful orders.1
Grand juries consist of 23 citizens, and 13 of them must vote “yes” for an indictment to issue. It is rare, almost unheard of, for a grand jury to reject an indictment by a vote of ZERO to 23, but they did in this case.
Thank you for standing up, grand jurors, you are grand indeed! And so are the other grand jurors around the country who are refusing to participate in these specious MAGA investigations and attempted persecutions.
Because there is not enough occasion to laugh these days, it shouldn’t go without notice that this latest d**k move by Pirro was led by Steven Vandervelden, a veteran prosecutor from Pirro’s Westchester County days. Steve was called in to the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office by Pirro as a “special counsel,” apparently to help fill the gaps left by the ethical assistant U.S. attorneys who have either left the office in droves, or refused to embarrass themselves by handling BS cases like this one. Perhaps Steve is a MAGA warrior, or maybe he got his arm twisted by Pirro to help her out for old time’s’ sake.
What are Steve’s qualifications to run high-profile federal prosecutions? Well, Steve retired from his 34 years as a county prosecutor in 2023 in order to do what? (multiple choice):
Get a high-paying job with a big firm defending rich felons in federal court?
Take interesting vacation trips now that he has the time?
Run a photography studio. ← (correct answer!)
Yes, Steve was called back from running his photography studio.2 Steve may not have been the best choice for federal court cannon fodder, considering how that’s gone with some other federal prosecutorial appointments of attorneys without federal experience (I’m talking to you, Alina Habba and Lindsey Halligan!) Steve is, however, a helluva dance photographer!
When “the media” began lambasting Pirro for hiring a “photography studio owner” as a special counsel, Pirro fought back with the comment that “everybody has a hobby.” Seriously, I can’t fault that answer. Jeanine’s hobby appears to be giving side eye to her boss, the much younger Pam Bondi, at press conferences.
While we are at it, just what are Jeanine’s qualifications to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia?3 (Multiple choice)
Several years as a fake judge on TV.
Fox News host.
Failed senatorial campaign against Hilary Clinton.
Author of pro-MAGA political books.
Author of ghost-written novels.
Previously married to a convicted felon (who received a presidential pardon in 2021).
Called for the impeachment of Barack Obama.
Mar-A-Lago face.
All of the above. ← (correct answer!)
And now, back to our regular programming ….
Jeanine’s career is not a complete dump, and she actually had credible prosecutorial and judicial experience early in her career. I’ll leave you to find her Wikipedia entry for yourself. But when she lost the election for N.Y. Attorney General to Andrew Cuomo in 2006, she appears to have gone a bit off the rails after she was investigated for planning to wiretap her husband’s boat to get information about an affair. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/salacious-scandal-derailed-jeanine-pirros-political-career-rcna205801. She was captured on a wiretap (oh irony!) talking about her “plan” (she claims it was venting) with Rudi Giuliani sidekick and former felon (now deceased) Bernard Kerik, once the acting Minister of the Interior of Iraq. Remember him? (This is all so complicated ….. )
Citizens Resisting Tyranny 