President Donald Trump railed against U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Monday, days after her office dropped charges against a man accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and admitted in court the issues were due to “flawed installation by the contractor,” not vandals.
“Jeanine Pirro made a mistake,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “There was vandalism.”
The Justice Department moved to dismiss the criminal case on Friday against David Hearn of Maryland, a former Olympian who was indicted by a grand jury on charges of purposefully destroying part of the new coating applied to the pool during a Trump-directed renovation.
The president is weighing firing Pirro after he was “blindsided” by her decision to dismiss Hearn’s case, CNN reported. Pirro was spotted entering the White House’s West Wing on Monday afternoon.
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Trump earlier Monday reiterated his assertion that the administration has recordings of vandals cutting the Reflecting Pool with box knives.
“Now I’m not saying I was 100% thrilled with the contractor, but the contractor was rushing,” Trump said. “We wanted to get it open for July 4, and we got it done. But in addition, there was vandalism.”
The president said Pirro visited the Reflecting Pool after the Fourth of July celebration when the water was filled with debris from the record-breaking fireworks display.
Trump said Pirro “choked” after a judge questioned the government’s evidence and the handling of the prosecution. Trump called the judge “vicious” but blamed Pirro for dropping the proceedings against Hearn.
“She folded like an umbrella, and people get away with things,” Trump said. “It’s a disgrace.”
Pirro’s filing to dismiss the case cast blame on the Interior Department, saying new information provided to her office undermined the evidence — supplied by Interior and U.S. Park Police — that the damage was “entirely caused by vandals” rather than botched construction.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum backed Trump’s assertion that vandals damaged the Reflecting Pool and touted his commitment to seeing through cases against any alleged vandals.
“We won’t back down to deranged people who want to destroy, deface, or degrade our monuments,” Burgum wrote Saturday on X.
Trump and Pirro spoke on the phone on Saturday about the court filing, and one unnamed source told CNN the conversation “wasn’t pretty.”
Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was one of at least seven people arrested at the Reflecting Pool over allegations of destruction of property and vandalism, according to the White House. Hearn was arrested June 19 and indicted by a grand jury July 2, and pleaded not guilty.
Hearn’s legal team told MS NOW that he is weighing “all remedies,” including potential legal action, now that his case has been dismissed.
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