Story by Ariana Baio
President Donald Trump forcefully disputed U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s decision to drop charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday afternoon, less than a day after Pirro admitted in a court filing that damage to a recently installed pool liner was “the result of flawed installation by the contractor.
I don’t know what she was thinking?” Trump added. “To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM, that included the grass, which had a big 86 47 emblazoned in giant letters on it, and other elements of the surrounding area.”
Friday, Pirro moved to dismiss the felony destruction of property charge against David Hearn and indicated the Interior Department misled her office into accusing Hearn of damaging the pool liner.
Instead, she said, the company contracted to do the refurbishment quickly had poorly installed the new liner, which started peeling after installation.
On social media, people accused US Attorney Jeanine Pirro of recklessly bringing a criminal indictment against a man who did not damage the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool (AFP/Getty)
Pirro’s admission was not only a complete contradiction of her and President Donald Trump’s previous assertions, but it’s just the latest in a string of high-profile losses – leading to scrutiny online.
Mark Zaid, an attorney who focuses on national security cases, called the situation “absolutely embarrassing” for Pirro, adding: “I trust at least a public apology is forthcoming to all of those adversely affected by these frivolous prosecutions.”
orman Ornstein, a political scientist at a conservative think tank, wrote on X: “She is utterly culpable and should be removed and disbarred.”
Ron Filipkowski, an attorney and editor of MediasTouch, also called for Pirro to be disbarred, saying, “It is absolutely indefensible and gross misconduct to rush through a criminal indictment for political reasons before an investigation has been completed, which resulted in false evidence being presented to a grand jury.”
Conservative political commentator Scott Jennings criticized the administration’s faulty evidence in the case, agreeing that Hearn is “owed an apology.”
“The administration looks like a monkey having intimate relations with a football,” Jennings told CNN’s “The Source” Friday evening.
Jennings added: “[Hearn] ought to sue anybody that he thinks he can to get his name back.”
Trump ordered his administration to fix the Reflecting Pool, which has been plagued by problems for years (Reuters)
When asked for comment on criticism, a spokesperson for Pirro’s office said: “The filing speaks for itself.”
Earlier this month, Pirro brought a one-count felony indictment against Hearn for deliberately destroying property after the administration accused him of “violently” pulling up on the newly installed Reflecting Pool liner.
While announcing the indictment, Pirro had fervently pushed back on skepticism that Hearn destroyed the pool liner. Hearn had denied the government’s accusations and insisted the pool was damaged when he visited it.
But Pirro’s assertion aligned with Trump’s claim that multiple people vandalized the Reflecting Pool – which the president had ordered his administration to quickly refurbish to try and get rid of the blooming algae on the surface.
However, algae returned shortly after the pool was re-sealed and a liner was installed. The new sealant also started to peel off in chunks that bubbled to the surface.
In Friday’s court filing, Pirro said her team was misled by the Interior Department, which allegedly misrepresented that “nearly all of the damage” to the pool was due to vandals when it was the result of faulty installation.
David Hearn, the former Olympian briefly indicted by the Trump administration, had denied Pirro’s accusations and pleaded not guilty to charges before Pirro moved to dismiss the case Friday (Reuters)
Pirro blamed the peeling of the pool’s lining on rushed repairs completed by a first-time government contractor that received a no-bid contract.
In refuting Pirro’s court filing on Truth Social, Trump also posted a video of three individuals dipping their hands in the Reflecting Pool – in what Trump claims is an act of vandalism.
“Look for yourselves at the VANDALISM that took place at The Reflecting Pool. The material is being cut with a knife or a box cutter, for all to see!” Trump wrote
The video shows two individuals, what appears to be a man and a woman, leaning down toward the Reflecting Pool. The man seemingly dips his hand in the pool before standing up. Another individual, who appears to be a young man, subsequently leans down and dips his hand in the same spot multiple times.
A small crowd appears around the young man as he swishes his arm around the water. But the video, taken from a far distance and zoomed in, is grainy and it is difficult to see details.
Trump broke from US Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s decision to dismiss a felony indictment against a former Olympian, claiming the damage to the Reflecting Pool and surrounding area was the act of vandals and not related to poor installation (realDonaldTrump / Truth Social)
Though Pirro has seemingly pushed blame onto the Interior Department, online some people still held her accountable.
Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News host, called Pirro’s reversal “unbelievable” and “disgraceful”
Marc Scaringi, an attorney who represented Trump’s campaign in 2020, said it was “stunning how easily and brazenly Jeanine Pirro, President Trump, and other Trump Administration officials lie…”
“The blatant lies, political prosecutions, and lawfare coming from the Trump DOJ must stop,” Scaringi wrote on X.
Pirro’s office has previously failed to secure prosecutions against individuals that the Trump administration had targeted.
Last year, Pirro failed to persuade three separate grand juries to indict a woman on felony charges for assaulting an FBI agent during an anti-ICE protest. Once Pirro reduced the charges to a misdemeanor, a jury still refused to find the woman guilty.
The U.S. Attorney for D.C. also failed to secure grand jury indictments for a person accused of making threats against an official as well as a man accused of physically resisting arrest.
Notably, a jury declined to charge a man who flung a sub-style sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent.
