Cecily Strong Returns As Merlot-Spewing Jeanine Pirro In ‘Saturday Night Live’ Open That Skewers Donald Trump’s Fox News Picks

Saturday Night Live opened by skewering Donald Trump‘s latest choice of a Fox News personality for a top administration position.

This time, it was Jeanine Pirro, the co-host of The Five, who this week was named interim U.S. attorney. Returning to play a Merlot-loving Judge Jeanine was Cecily Strong.

Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, assures, “Jeanine will be the newest addition to my incredible team in my administration.”

“And what team, Mr. President. I am so proud to be part of this group full of Russian assets, booze hounds and people famous for the little baby animals they’ve killed,” Strong’s Pirro told him.

“Oh we love Jeanine. She’s a great legal mind, and she has the most important quality I look for in a lawyer: She’s on TV. She’s on The Five, which is a show on Fox, kind of like The View.”

“I’m a Whoopi!” Pirro interjected.

“You’re very Whoopi, but you’re also very tough,” Trump said.

“Yes, especially on immigration. I don’t have any reservations about sending things back. My friends know I’ve sent back every salad I’ve ever ordered at a restaurant,” Pirro replied.

“Wouldn’t know. I have never eaten one,” Trump responded.

Pirro was later joined by Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with Colin Jost playing the former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host. After several rounds of Hegseth shocking Pirro with his incompetence, to the point where she spewed her wine at him, he finally handed her some hard liquor to spray from her mouth into his.

“I accidentally added Kim Jong Un to the group chat,” Hegseth told her, as he held open his mouth to get a taste of the booze.

Strong left the cast of the show in 2022.

The skit actually opened with an SNL tradition: Cast members appearing with their mothers, only to be interrupted by Trump. “It’s me again, invading all aspects of your life,” he said.

He also addressed the obvious: SNL didn’t open with an obvious skit about the new pope from Chicago, i.e. Da Pope and Da Bears? “Instead you get me,” Trump said., “Isn’t that exciting?”