Mystery surrounds new special grand jury in DC

The Justice Department has taken a rare step in Washington, convening a special grand jury

that could be used to investigate some of the most controversial cases handled by U.S

Attorney Jeanine Pirro. The Washington Post is first to report it, and right now it is not clear

what case or cases the grand jury will actually take up. But this is not your typical grand jury

Its 23 members can focus on one case or a group of related cases and can even issue a public report naming people accused of wrongdoing whether or not they are ever charged

The Post says the grand jury will be overseen by Stephen Vandervelden, one of Pirro's top allies, who has already worked on some of her office's most high-profile investigations

Those include the probe into then Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and an inquiry

into whether D.C. police purposely skewed crime statistics. And all of this comes after President Trump publicly turned on Pirro over her decision to drop the reflecting pool vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn Although The Post reports prosecutors submitted the paperwork for this special grand jury before Pirro dropped the Hearn case

Special grand juries are rare and legal experts tell The Post there is no known recent precedent for seating one in Washington

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