Jeanine
Pirro
(Photo
by
MIKE
THEILER/AFP/Getty
Images)
“I
have
never
heard
of
a
situation
where
every
single
grand
juror
rejected
an
indictment,”
former
federal
prosecutor
Joyce
Vance
wrote.
“Every
single
one.”
The
Trump
administration
has
made
a
habit
of
failing
to
secure
indictments
—
a
process
so
infamously
easy
that
everyone
jokes
about
how
the
government
could
indict
a
ham
sandwich
—
but
it’s
still
unheard
of
to
fail
to
persuade
even
one
grand
juror
to
indict.
Achievement
unlocked!
NBC
reports
that
the
administration
not
only
flubbed
its
attempt
to
indict
the
six
Democratic
lawmakers
who
starred
in
a
video
reminding
military
personnel
that
the
law
requires
them
to
reject
unlawful
orders,
but
it
could
not
find
a
single
grand
juror
willing
to
bite.
The
case
against
the
lawmakers
was,
of
course,
frivolous.
The
Uniform
Code
of
Military
Justice
does,
in
fact,
impose
a
duty
on
the
military
to
disobey
illegal
orders,
rendering
any
charge
against
the
legislators
an
uphill
battle.
It
was
also
a
battle
that
the
career
prosecutors
in
the
D.C.
U.S.
Attorney’s
Office
probably
didn’t
want
to
fight.
U.S.
Attorney
Offices
around
the
country
have
suffered
drastic
attrition,
with
principled
public
servants
refusing
to
bring
garbage
charges
to
appease
their
political
appointee
bosses.
To
fill
out
the
ranks
in
her
office,
former
Fox
News
host
Jeanine
Pirro
apparently
tried
to
“get
the
band
back
together”
from
her
days
as
the
Westchester
County
DA,
bringing
on
a
former
assistant
DAs
from
the
old
days
to
help
her
out.
Steven
Vandervelden,
the
long-time
local
prosecutor,
drew
the
case
against
the
lawmakers
—
along
with
another
lawyer
with
limited
federal
prosecutorial
experience,
Carlton
Davis
—
suggesting
Pirro
couldn’t
convince
one
of
the
career
prosecutors
left
in
the
office
to
touch
this
case.
And
it’s
possible
that
even
Vandervelden
knew
this
was
a
lost
cause
because
according
to
Bloomberg
Law
News,
Vandervelden
continued
to
run
his
dance
photography
studio
while
pitching
in
to
help
his
old
boss
pursue
political
prosecutions.
This
dance
photography
studio.
Apparently
Vandervelden
went
into
this
business
in
2023,
telling
the
Rockland/Westchester
Journal
News
he
appreciated
a
career
where
he
could
“look
for
the
light
and
find
beauty
as
opposed
to
the
grime”
after
34
years
prosecuting
homicide
and
organized
crime
cases.
Pirro’s
office
sent
a
statement
to
Bloomberg
pushing
back
against
the
news
that
he
runs
a
photography
studio:
In
a
statement,
Pirro
said,
“Steven
Vandervelden
is
one
of
the
best
prosecutors
and
best
investigators
that
I
have
worked
with
in
well
over
three
decades
in
the
criminal
justice
system.
Any
attempt
to
undercut
his
expertise
is
nothing
more
than
an
effort
to
detract
from
his
excellent
prosecutorial
record
to
which
few
can
compare.
And
by
the
way,
everybody
has
a
hobby.”
Based
the
DOJ’s
redaction
choices
and
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi’s
testimony
yesterday,
“everybody
has
a
hobby”
also
appears
to
be
the
administration’s
official
stance
on
the
Epstein
files.
Seriously
though,
Pirro’s
statement
is
frankly
disrespectful
of
Vandervelden.
This
isn’t
a
hobby,
it’s
his
business!
And
taking
a
look
at
the
photos
on
his
site,
he’s
pretty
good
at
it!
It
also
misunderstands
the
criticism,
which
is
probably
to
be
expected
of
an
administration
dominated
by
the
dullest
tools
in
the
metaphorical
shed.
The
knock
on
Vandervelden
isn’t
that
he’s
a
photographer,
it’s
that
a
small
business
owner
who
retired
three
years
ago
is
running
a
case
with
grave
constitutional
implications
as
a
side
hustle.
Trying
to
charge
sitting
legislators
with
treason
—
or
whatever
nonsense
charge
the
DOJ
dreamed
up
—
probably
shouldn’t
be
a
gig
economy
job.
But
that’s
what
happens
when
the
DOJ
has
embarked
on
a
campaign
of
lawlessness
that
saw
its
public
integrity
unit
all
run
for
the
hills
rather
than
be
associated
with
behavior
that
should
by
all
rights
end
in
disbarment.
So
Pirro’s
office
called
in
Vandervelden
like
hiring
a
prosecutor
off
Fiverr
and
gave
him
a
guaranteed
loser
of
a
case.
Man,
it’s
not
worth
it.
Just
stick
to
the
photography
because
working
with
this
DOJ
is
nothing
but
grime
all
the
way
down.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
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tips,
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Follow
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Joe
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