The Untold Truth Of Jeanine Pirro's Ex-Husband, Albert

While Judge Jeanine Pirro and attorney Albert J. Pirro have been divorced since 2013, she still can't seem to shake the impact of his scandals. Despite Albert's 2000 conviction of conspiracy and federal tax evasion, Jeanine initially stuck with her husband and the father of their two children through his 11-month prison sentence and the bombshell reveal of a secret child with his mistress.

You may not know that Jeanine and Albert met at Albany Law School before getting married in 1975, separating in 2007 following rumors of an affair with Lisa Santangelo — the wife of his lawyer from his 2000 case, Michael Santangelo. While Albert would insist he only had a friendship with Lisa, he would dig the knife in further by claiming it was Jeanine's fault for focusing on her career more than him. In an interview with New York Magazine, Albert remarked how " ... if you're not going to get attention at home, I think you really need to make some decisions about your future."

The alleged affair drove Jeanine to consider illegally wire-tapping her husband's boat, landing her in a major legal scandal and seemingly costing her the New York attorney general election. Albert might have been able to clear his wife's busy schedule, but it possibly came at the expense of his marriage. Their divorce wasn't finalized until six years after they split, though their breakup didn't stop Jeanine from lobbying for Albert's presidential pardon at the end of Donald Trump's first term. While the Pirros' romantic relationship was tumultuous and unconventional, their strongest ties seemingly lie with the presidential family.

Personally appointed by Donald Trump to serve as the US attorney for Washington, D.C., during his second term, Jeanine Pirro isn't the only Pirro to have a close relationship with the president. According to The Journal News, Albert Pirro and Trump had been friends for years proceeding the pardon, as well as having a close working relationship. In the '90s, Albert worked as a real estate lawyer for the future president, supporting and bringing to life some of his development plans. In an 1997 interview with the New York Times, Trump characterized Albert as someone with " ... a good sense of the law and what's practical and a lot of common sense." While this "common sense" might have found Albert guilty of 34 counts of tax evasion, and also embroiled in alleged bribery scandals, this seems like exactly the kind of company Trump likes to keep.

Found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsified business records himself, Trump took the opportunity to fill his administration with loyalists and friends alike for his second term. The Pirros and Trump had obviously been in business together before Albert's conviction, but the president maintained Jeanine as an ally even as she stopped practicing law and started her career as a TV host. Albert's presidential pardon in addition to his ex-wife's appointment as a key figure in the second Trump administration prove that it's not about what you did, but rather who you know.