Federal regulator’s verdict: ‘Judge’ Jeanine Pirro committee is breaking the law
Federal regulators are going after Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro — again — for failing to follow the law.
Last month, for at least the 55th time — that isn’t a typo — the Federal Election Commission sent Pirro’s still-technically-active U.S. Senate campaign committee a letter warning it of accounting errors and missed deadlines. It threatened consequences.
“The failure to timely file a complete report may result in civil money penalties, an audit or legal enforcement action,” the FEC’s letter said. “The civil money penalty calculation for late reports does not include a grace period and begins on the day following the due date for the report.”
But Pirro knows better than most that nothing is likely to happen. In these cases, the FEC famously huffs and puffs without following through.
Pirro for Senate dates back to Pirro’s aborted 2006 challenge to Hillary Clinton for the U.S. Senate in New York. Late in 2005, Pirro quit after an inept campaign and polls showing Clinton would trounce her on Election Day.
The Pirro campaign committee failed to file required FEC financial reports for at least seven years before trying to dissolve in 2019.
That year, Pirro for Senate said in a hand-written FEC filing that its debts of about $600,000 “are not collectable as the (state) 6 year statue (sic) of limitation has long passed.”
It’s unclear from FEC filings whether the agency refused to accept the campaign’s explanation about the debt. The campaign’s most recent filing listed no money on hand, no fundraising and no spending.
Bruce Bellmare, treasurer for the committee, couldn’t be reached for comment.
The FEC said it wouldn’t comment on individual candidates or committees.
Generally, the FEC won’t let a political committee terminate itself until it’s resolved outstanding debts accounting issues.
Pirro’s “Justice with Judge Jeanine” show was a long-running Fox News staple until last year, when Pirro became a co-host of “The Five” — the highest-rated program in cable news across all networks, according to AdWeek’s TVNewser.
Despite her own unpaid creditors, Pirro last year criticized the idea of student loan forgiveness, saying, “This is a giveaway and it's disgusting.”