Pirro Faucets Dance Photographer-Lawyer in Lawmaker Video Case (1)

Washington’s US Attorney Jeanine Pirro tapped a dance photographer who labored for her a long time in the past as one of many prosecutors who tried—and failed—to persuade a grand jury to indict six Democratic lawmakers Tuesday, mentioned two folks aware of the state of affairs.

Steven Vandervelden maintained an active photography studio when presenting federal prices to the grand jury towards the six members of Congress for making a video reminding army service members of their rights to refuse illegal orders.

He’s one in every of two Pirro hires with minimal federal prosecution expertise who obtained rejected by the grand jury in a case that’s been broadly criticized as a politically-motivated assault on free speech.

Assigning such a delicate probe to legal professionals she’d introduced in from outdoors the workplace—moderately than profession line prosecutors—is unprecedented, former federal prosecutors in DC mentioned.

Vandervelden—who had a protracted profession as a neighborhood prosecutor in Westchester County, N.Y. the place Pirro was district legal professional —declined to touch upon the investigation into the lawmakers, calling it a doubtlessly open case. In a short cellphone interview Wednesday, he confirmed he is similar Vandervelden who posted an replace to his studio’s Instagram account a number of hours earlier.

Vandervelden’s presence within the federal courtroom Tuesday, together with one other Pirro-appointed particular counsel Carlton Davis, is one in every of a number of components that former prosecutors thought of extremely uncommon concerning the Trump Justice Department’s pursuit of prison prices towards the sitting lawmakers.

Vandervelden had no prior DOJ background earlier than becoming a member of the workplace final 12 months, whereas Davis had a short stint as an assistant US legal professional within the Eastern District of Virginia in 2018.

While being rebuffed by the grand jury is uncommon sufficient by itself, prosecutors’ willingness to hunt prices earlier than a grand jury on this matter shocked former attorneys in Pirro’s workplace, who spoke anonymously out of worry of retribution.

In a press release, Pirro mentioned, “Steven Vandervelden is one of the best prosecutors and best investigators that I have worked with in well over three decades in the criminal justice system. Any attempt to undercut his expertise is nothing more than an effort to detract from his excellent prosecutorial record to which few can compare. And by the way, everybody has a hobby.”

Pirro added that “Davis has been an investigator at the highest levels of our government.”

Walled Off

Davis, a former staffer for House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), and Vandervelden have been each introduced into Pirro’s inside circle final 12 months as she tried advancing a collection of Trump administration initiatives. The DC workplace’s public corruption group has a protracted historical past of investigating members of Congress, however was walled off from the investigation into the six Democrats, which embrace Sens. Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (Mich.), mentioned the 2 folks with information of the matter.

Charges towards sitting lawmakers additionally would sometimes require a collection of approvals and consultations with DOJ’s public integrity part. But that workplace has been gutted over the previous 12 months and it’s not clear if the few legal professionals remaining had any window into this indictment effort.

Vandervelden labored for Pirro within the Westchester County District Attorney’s workplace within the Nineteen Nineties. His pursuit of this case together with Davis additionally adopted a mass exodus of prison prosecutors from Pirro’s employees, together with supervisors within the public corruption unit.

Vandervelden’s pictures web site options sections labeled, “Dance Puppetry,” “Dance the Plank Series,” and “Circus, Yoga, and Fitness.”

“I spent a good portion of my life peering into the darkness looking for the bad guy,” Vandervelven advised the Rockland/Westchester Journal News in 2023 about his shift from legislation to pictures. “Now it’s a joy to peer into the darkness and look for the light and find beauty as opposed to the grime.”