DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro told The Post’s Miranda Devine that President Trump’s Department of Justice is not seeking “retribution” but merely holding officials accountable, including those who peddled claims of Russian collusion in 2016.
“When it involves criminal activity, there’s got to be a response. You can’t just look away and say, ‘Oh, everything’s good. Let’s do a kumbaya.’ No. We’re in a new time now,” Pirro said on the latest “Pod Force One” podcast episode, out Wednesday.
“It’s not retribution,” she also said of the probes that have been launched. “It is Lady Justice who’s blindfolded with those scales saying, ‘What has been done that is illegal and against the law?’”
But Pirro declined to discuss in detail the ongoing investigations into former Obama administration officials such as ex-DNI James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan.
“What I can tell you is that everyone is looking at everything at this point, as well we should, because the American people need to have faith in the justice system,” Pirro said. “They don’t have it and that’s for good reason.”
Trump cabinet officials and congressional Republicans have referred Clapper and Brennan to the DOJ for prosecution alleging they made false statements to lawmakers, pushing claims of Trump-Russia collusion in a 2017 intelligence assessment.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has indicated that the actions of the Obama officials amounted to a “treasonous conspiracy” to “subvert President Trump’s 2016 victory” with falsehoods from a since-debunked dossier compiled by ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele.
Last Friday, subpoenas were issued to Clapper and Brennan as part of a grand jury inquiry launched by US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones in the Southern District of Florida, a source previously told The Post. Reps for Clapper and Brennan did not respond to requests for comment on the probe.
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Former FBI Director James Comey is already facing two criminal counts for allegedly lying to Congress about authorizing leaks while in office to the media regarding the bureau’s investigation into purported Russian government links to Trump’s 2016 campaign as well as into Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Interim US Attorney Lindsey Halligan is handling that prosecution, for which Comey could face up to five years in federal prison.
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Comey has pleaded not guilty. The trial is scheduled for Jan. 5, 2026, though his defense team is seeking to have the charges thrown out and Halligan kicked off the case for being improperly appointed.
Under the FBI’s “Midyear Exam” probe, the former first lady was being looked at for viewing classified information on a private email server.
Comey shut down the case in July 2016, issuing a rare statement laying out his decision not to bring charges — but reopened the investigation just weeks before the 2016 election based on new disclosures to the FBI.
“Obviously, I can’t speak to what a jury is going to do. I can only hope that the jurors will stay true to their oath to be objective and to make a decision based upon the facts that they hear within the four corners of a courtroom,” the former “Justice with Judge Jeanine” TV host said.
“I was at Fox during ‘Russiagate,’ and it was incredibly divisive to the country. It was debilitating,” added the ex-Westchester County, NY, judge and prosecutor. “People were fighting with family members and everyone else over whether or not Donald Trump was a Putin puppet or a Russian asset. It was horrific, and now we know about that.”
Pirro couldn’t help but also needle New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was also indicted by Halligan on mortgage fraud, as an example of the rebalancing of the scales of justice.
James — who infamously declared “no one is above the law” when bringing civil charges against Trump for allegedly inflating the value of some of his real estate properties — was indicted for bank fraud and making false claims to a financial institution about a loan she obtained for a second home in Norfolk, Va.
“Now when people are being prosecuted, we can at least say ‘You remember you said no one’s above the law?’” Pirro went on. “‘Is no one above the law only if it’s to your advantage?’ It’s foreign to us.”
