U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro’s heated press briefing on Friday, March 13, 2026, has led to talk that she might be lining up to replace Attorney General Pam Bondi, according to analysis by CNN chief legal correspondent Paula Reid.
Pirro made an emotional public statement after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocked grand jury subpoenas her office issued to the Federal Reserve as part of an inquiry into Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The ruling, dated Wednesday and unsealed Friday, dealt a major blow to her investigation into the multibillion-dollar renovation of the Federal Reserve’s D.C. headquarters and Powell’s Senate testimony about the project.
Reid said the confrontational conference seemed to serve a purpose beyond responding to the court’s decision.
“[The press conference] appeared to be an audition for the top job at the Justice Department, because we know that President Trump is very frustrated,” Reid said. “He has expressed frustration with prosecutors at the Justice Department that they have not been able to successfully prosecute his political adversaries.”
Bondi, the current Attorney General, is reportedly out of favor with President Donald Trump and some congressional Republicans. According to Politico coverage from early March, numerous Republican lawmakers have criticized Bondi over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein records. The Justice Department has also been criticized for unsuccessful prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Reid characterized Bondi as being “on thin ice with the White House and with President Donald Trump,” noting Trump’s tendency to remove Cabinet officials who lose Republican support.
At the press briefing, Pirro sharply denounced Judge Boasberg’s order, calling it “outrageous” and asserting that Powell had been unfairly protected from scrutiny. “Jerome Powell today is now bathed in immunity, preventing my office from investigating the Federal Reserve,” Pirro said. “This is wrong, and it is without legal authority.”
Pirro said she would appeal the ruling, even though Reid believes success is unlikely. The judge’s opinion strongly criticized the prosecutors’ motives.
“Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not,” Judge Boasberg wrote in his decision. He added that abundant evidence suggested the subpoenas’ purpose was “to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the president or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will.”
Pirro’s background is varied: she has served as a district judge, a television judge, and a longtime Fox News host before taking on the U.S. attorney role. Her aggressive media presence and vocal support for Trump have made her a well-known political figure.
Reid suggested Pirro’s combative tone at the briefing reflects the kind of prosecutor Trump prefers. “Here, you saw [Pirro] come out defiant, scolding reporters for asking some very reasonable questions,” Reid observed. “And that is the kind of prosecutor that President Trump wants to see in his Justice Department.”
The CNN correspondent also noted that Trump-backed prosecutors have “overall not been successful” in pursuing the president’s political opponents in court. “It’s unlikely this will be successful either,” Reid said of Pirro’s planned appeal. “But there she’s showing the boss she’s at least trying.”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended Bondi when asked about the rumors, saying the attorney general “has worked tirelessly to successfully implement the president’s law and order agenda.” Jackson added that Trump “has full faith in the attorney general.”
Despite the White House’s public backing, congressional discontent, notable prosecutorial setbacks, and Trump’s apparent dissatisfaction with Justice Department results have left Bondi’s future uncertain. Whether Pirro’s public performance on Friday was a real bid for the attorney general post or simply her usual prosecutorial approach is unclear, but Reid’s commentary has amplified speculation about leadership changes at the Justice Department.
