Immigration rights attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick was stupefied Monday night as President Donald Trump's controversial U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, was forced to downgrade assault charges to a misdemeanor after failing to secure an indictment three times.
"DOJ tried and failed three times to indict a woman for allegedly assaulting an ICE officer during an arrest of two purported gang members," reported Politico's Kyle Cheney. "So they were forced to reduce her charge to a misdemeanor."
In the case of United States v. Sydney Reid, Pirro's office filed a motion with the judge stating that, "The United States ... respectfully submits this notice alerting the Court and counsel that an Indictment has not been returned in this case. As was previously disclosed by the Court to defense counsel, a third grand jury returned a no true bill. On August 25, 2025, within the thirty-day timeframe provided in 18 U.S.C. § 3161(b), the government submitted for filing an Information charging a misdemeanor violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1) (Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers)."
This is a spectacular failure for Pirro, Reichlin-Melnick wrote on X.
"The old joke is that any good prosecutor could get a jury to indict a ham sandwich," wrote Reichlin-Melnick. "Do you know how badly you have to be overcharging something for a grand jury to reject charges three times in a row? What an embarrassment."
Pirro, a controversial figure who has admitted to knowingly pushing election conspiracy theories, was nominated to replace Ed Martin, a far-right activist Trump installed as acting federal prosecutor in D.C., but who failed to secure enough Republican votes for his nomination to move forward after firing off a series of intimidation letters to Trump's political critics and various other institutions.