Jeanine Pirro

Jeanine Ferris Pirro (born June 2, 1951) is an American television host, author, and a former New York State judge, prosecutor, and politician. Pirro was the host of Fox News Channel's Justice with Judge Jeanine until 2022 when she became a co-host of The Five. She was a frequent contributor to NBC News, including regular appearances on The Today Show. She was also the first female judge elected in Westchester County, New York. Pirro was elected the first female district attorney of Westchester County. As district attorney, Pirro gained visibility in cases of domestic abuse and crimes against the elderly. Pirro briefly sought the Republican nomination for United States Senate to run against Hillary Clinton in 2006, but dropped out to accept the nomination for New York Attorney General; she lost the general election to Democrat Andrew Cuomo. In 2018, she wrote the book Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy. Pirro was named as a defendant in a February 2021 defamation lawsuit by Smartmatic, in relation to false claims of election fraud in the 2020 United States presidential election, though the claims against her were dismissed by a judge in March 2022. Jeanine Ferris was born and raised in Elmira, New York, the daughter of Lebanese-American parents. Her father was a mobile-home salesman, and her mother was a department-store model who spent much of her childhood in Beirut. Her parents were Maronite Catholics. Pirro knew she wanted to be an attorney from the age of six. She graduated from Notre Dame High School in Elmira in three years, interning in the Chemung County District Attorney's office during her time in high school. Pirro then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University at Buffalo. She received her J.D. degree at Albany Law School of Union University in 1975, where she was an editor of the law review. In 1975, District Attorney Carl Vergari appointed Pirro to the position of Assistant District Attorney of Westchester County in New York State, where she began her career by writing appeals and handling minor cases.