Trump Says Jeanine Pirro ‘Choked’ By Dropping Reflecting Pool Vandalism Case Against Former Olympian
President Donald Trump publicly ripped U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Monday after her office moved to dismiss a vandalism case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, saying Pirro “choked” and “folded like a cheap umbrella” under pressure from a federal judge.
Hearn, 67, had been charged with felony destruction of government property after allegedly pulling up part of the newly installed coating at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The case became part of a broader controversy after President Trump repeatedly blamed vandals for damage that appeared shortly after the landmark underwent an extensive renovation.
Pirro’s office reversed course after receiving additional information from the Interior Department indicating that much of the widespread damage to the pool’s coating resulted from problems with the renovation itself. Prosecutors said contractors had rushed portions of the project and that some coatings had not properly bonded, information they said was not available when Hearn was indicted.
President Trump nevertheless insisted there was evidence that vandalism occurred and sharply criticized the decision to abandon the prosecution. “I guess she choked. I don’t know what the hell happened,” Trump told reporters, later accusing Pirro of folding under pressure from the judge overseeing the case.
Trump acknowledged that contractors had been rushing to complete the Reflecting Pool project but maintained that construction problems did not necessarily explain all of the damage. He has pointed to surveillance footage that he says shows individuals deliberately interfering with the pool’s coating, though what exactly occurred in the footage has remained disputed.
The president stopped short of saying whether Pirro could lose her job over the decision. Asked directly about her future, Trump said he did not know what would happen but repeatedly emphasized that he was disappointed with how she handled the case. Pirro was subsequently seen at the White House as questions mounted about her standing with the president.
The controversy expanded Monday as prosecutors also moved to dismiss cases against three other people accused of damaging the Reflecting Pool, meaning all four defendants caught up in the vandalism investigation are no longer facing charges.
For Pirro, a longtime Trump ally who was chosen by the president to serve as Washington’s top federal prosecutor, the episode has created an unusually public break with the White House. Trump made clear that he believes his Justice Department should have continued pursuing the case, turning what began as a dispute over damage at the Reflecting Pool into a potentially serious test of Pirro’s future in the administration.