BREAKING: Judge Jeanine Convenes Surprise Grand Jury In D.C.

Jeanine Pirro, recently under pressure from Trump for admitting a prosecution Trump wanted was baseless, has convened a special grand jury, per WaPo.

That suggests a potentially big attempted prosecution is afoot.https://t.co/5KGbM17O0H

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) August 12, 2026

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NEW: Jeanine Pirro’s office has quietly convened an extremely rare special grand jury in D.C., potentially opening a new front in politically charged investigations. What it’s targeting remains a mystery. https://t.co/IN125uXMfY

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) August 12, 2026

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D.C.’s special grand jury is to be overseen by Steven Vandervelden, one of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s top allies in her office, according to three government officials familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that has not been made public.


Pirro has relied on Vandervelden to investigate some of her office’s most controversial cases, including a probe into then-Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell and an inquiry into allegations that the D.C. police force purposely skewed its crime statistics.


It is unclear what the new special grand jury will be tasked with probing, but those interviewed said it is a notable move, especially given President Donald Trump’s interest in prosecuting his adversaries.


Special grand juries, on the rare occasions when they are convened, are typically used to pursue investigations of government officials or probe broad conspiracy cases and organized criminal activity. (A group of corruption cases that prosecutors deem to be linked could qualify as the latter.)


Steve Friedland, a law professor at Elon University, said strict procedures govern how special grand juries can be used — but that there is also flexibility.


“This could be very interesting,” Friedland said. “Each administration has its own approach to how it enforces the law and how it uses the tools available to it.”

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In a special grand jury, its 23 members focus on a single case or a string of cases that prosecutors present as related, rather than handling a variety of matters like most grand juries.

The special grand jury allows anyone named in a report to testify and present witnesses for their defense.

The legal body generally runs for 18 months but can finish its work sooner or be extended in six-month increments by a judge, as long as it does not exceed 36 months.

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It remains unclear what exactly the jury will be probing, though Pirro has drawn criticism from Trump in recent days after her office dropped a vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Trump claimed Sunday that a defendant was caught by a National Park Service employee, who he dubbed a “highly credible witness,” vandalizing the pool’s coating by “‘violently’ ripping and tugging” at it.

“There was substantial other damage to the Reflecting Pool, also but, unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage, itself,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The president’s insistence came just days after he publicly rebuked Pirro, saying last Monday that the former Fox News host had “choked” and “folded like an umbrella.”

The following day, he did not rule out whether her job was on the line.

“I haven’t made a determination,” Trump told reporters about whether Pirro’s job was “safe.”

Trump’s anger with Pirro first surfaced earlier this month, as the president bluntly wrote online: “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking?”

He has continued to put pressure on the top federal prosecutor to revisit the case.

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