Jeanine Pirro has empaneled a special grand jury in Washington, DC, a rare move that could produce a public report even if no one is ever brought to trial. Steven Vandervelden is overseeing the panel.
The Washington Post reported the step on Wednesday, and legal experts said there is no known recent precedent for a special grand jury in Washington. That alone makes the move unusual, but the more striking fact is what remains unknown: the subject of the inquiry has not been identified.
Special grand juries are different from the more familiar kind because they can do more than hear evidence and consider charges. Niki Kuckes said they are very unusual and noted, “Sometimes they can issue a report, which a regular grand jury can't do.” Steve Friedland added, “This could be very interesting.”
The grand jury is being run by Vandervelden, who three government officials familiar with the matter described as one of Pirro’s top allies in her office. Those same officials said he has been instrumental in past controversial investigations, including a failed probe into then-Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell and an inquiry into allegations that the D.C. police force purposely tampered with their own crime statistics.
The move lands less than two weeks after Pirro dropped vandalism charges linked to Donald Trump’s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool project, underscoring the pressure on her and top Justice Department officials to deliver on cases Trump wants prosecuted. Against that backdrop, the special grand jury looks less like a routine legal step than a tool built for something more consequential than a standard charging decision.
What it will actually examine is still unclear. That gap matters because a special grand jury can end with a report even if no trial follows, giving Pirro a path to produce findings without first showing her hand in court.
