Feisty Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro has been named the new host of the right-wing network’s talk show panel. The Five.
The rise of his weekly Saturday night show, Justice with Jeanine, It comes after she was named a co-defendant in a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit brought by voting software company Smartmatic.
The lawsuit names Pirro, in addition to Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo, Rudy Giuliani and attorney Sidney Powell as false accusers of Smartmatic for rigging the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump.
Pirro’s attorneys argued that the lawsuit is “meritless” and should be protected by the First Amendment.
However, a judge refused to dismiss the case during a hearing in December, and another judge previously suggested that the statements made on Fox appeared libelous.
Pirro became one of Donald Trump’s fiercest media allies during his presidency, frequently criticizing his political opponents during his spirited monologues on his Saturday night Fox show.
She is the first full-time appointee to the job vacated by Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée Kimberley Guilfoyle, who left Fox in 2018 following a controversy over an alleged display of intimate photos to her colleagues.
Pirro, 70, joins network stalwarts Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino and Jesse Watters on the five-person panel show.
The show’s “liberal” rotating chairman will swap between former Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr, Fox News contributor Jessica Tarlov, and well-known correspondent Geraldo Rivera.
In a statement, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said: “’The Five’ continues to be a show loved by American audiences.
“Each of the co-hosts is a consummate and insightful talent with diverse opinions and excellent chemistry that will no doubt help drive this show forward in the future.”
Before joining Fox News in 2011, Pirro was a New York State Judge and Westchester County District Attorney.
Fox suspended her for two weeks in 2019 after making Islamophobic comments about Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Pirro has two children with her ex-husband Albert Pirro, who was convicted in 2000 of conspiracy and tax evasion for filing false tax returns concealing more than $1 million in personal income.
Trump pardoned Albert Pirro in one of his final acts as president.
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