Trump rebukes Jeanine Pirro on decision to drop Reflecting Pool vandalism case

President Donald Trump criticized longtime ally Jeanine Pirro Saturday after she agreed to drop a case against a former Olympic canoeist who was accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking?” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, adding “it was a pure case of VANDALISM.” The president wrote, “There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!” Pirro’s office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, said Friday it had obtained information that undermined “the evidentiary basis for the indictment” against David “Davey” Hearn. Hearn was indicted on July 2 over claims that he was “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner” of the pool with both hands on June 19 — shortly after the pool had undergone renovations directed by the president. Hearn pleaded not guilty and has said that “the condition of the Reflecting Pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there.” Prosecutors said Friday that they received new information from the Interior Department after Hearn’s indictment that indicated that the damage to the pool “was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.” Hearn was one of several people arrested in June after the pool was seen covered in green algae and pieces of the its blue sealant had peeled away in several places, resulting in chunks of the material floating on the water’s surface. Trump, who directed a $14 million-plus renovation project that included coating the pool in “American flag blue,” has repeatedly argued that the pool’s issues were caused by vandals. In a second post Saturday, the president argued that surveillance video clearly showed vandalism at the pool. “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. On Friday, the Justice Department said it “first became aware of information showing that the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism” after reviewing more documents. The DOJ said that it wouldn’t have sought a grand jury indictment against Hearn had it initially received the documents that the Interior Department provided after the indictment. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum continued to stand by Trump’s claims of vandalism on Saturday, despite the findings presented by Pirro’s office. “The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool. Some of these acts were even caught on camera,” Burgum wrote in a post on X. Burgum wrote that his office “also provided the U.S. Attorney’s office expert and eyewitness testimony to the damage done by vandals and provided every piece of evidence they asked for in the requested time line detailing each area of damage at the pool.” Hearn’s lawyer said in a statement Friday that the Trump administration owes Hearn an apology. “The Government’s case against Davey Hearn should never have been brought,” Steven Levin, Hearn’s attorney, said in a statement. “Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American. The government’s approach was ready, shoot, aim. The federal government owes Mr. Hearn an apology.” Pirro’s office said Friday that it also moved to dismiss at least one of the other three misdemeanor cases against those who allegedly vandalized the pool.