Trump Blasts Pirro After Her Office Drops Reflecting Pool Vandalism Charges Over Botched Contractor Work

Federal prosecutors in Washington dropped charges against four people accused of vandalizing the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, after documents showed the real culprit was a contractor's rushed installation job, not vandals with knives and box cutters.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office moved Friday to dismiss the felony case against David Hearn, a 67-year-old former Olympic canoeist accused of ripping sealant from the pool during a bike ride on June 19, according to CBS News. Hearn faced up to 10 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

In the days that followed, Pirro's office also dropped misdemeanor charges against three other defendants: Justin Carreno, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Cameron Thiers, according to court filings reviewed by CBS News.

Prosecutors said in the Friday filing that they only learned after Hearn's indictment that internal Interior Department documents showed the $15 million pool renovation suffered "a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during installation, and extensive peeling of the lining throughout the Reflecting Pool," according to the Guardian. Pirro's office said it wasn't aware the damage stemmed from a "botched installation" rather than vandalism "as initially represented by DOI" until the Interior Department turned over those records.

Hearn's attorneys said the case "should never have been brought" and that the government "owes Mr. Hearn an apology."

President Trump did not take it well. He has repeatedly promoted the reflecting pool renovation and insisted, without citing evidence beyond Interior Department claims, that it was sabotaged by vandals.

"I don't know what she was thinking?" Trump wrote on Truth Social over the weekend, adding he disagreed "100%" with Pirro's call, according to the Guardian.

He escalated Monday in the Oval Office. "I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro," Trump told reporters, according to CNBC. "She folded like an umbrella, and people get away with things, and it's a disgrace."

Trump also suggested D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman, who is overseeing the case, pressured Pirro into backing off. "I think she choked because the judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department," Trump said, per the Guardian. No court record cited in these filings substantiates that characterization of the judge's conduct.

Asked directly whether he was reconsidering Pirro's job, Trump dodged. "I don't know what," he said, before turning on the reporter who asked, telling them, "You're fake news. Don't ever talk again," according to the Guardian. The White House, pressed separately by CNBC on whether Trump still supports Pirro, simply pointed back to his Oval Office comments.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is publicly contradicting his own department's role in the case. He posted on X Saturday that "evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool," claiming some acts were "caught on camera" and that Interior gave Pirro's office "expert and eyewitness testimony" and "every piece of evidence they asked for," according to CBS News. Burgum did not release that evidence publicly. Pirro's own court filing says it was Interior's belatedly produced internal documents that revealed the installation problems in the first place, an inconsistency Burgum's statement does not address.

One person familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump is "furious" and thinks it's "highly likely" Pirro gets removed, according to the Guardian.

Pirro was seen at the White House hours after Trump's Oval Office comments, according to CBS News. What was discussed there hasn't been disclosed.

This isn't the administration's first fight over U.S. attorney removals. Trump fired Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington less than an hour after he was sworn in this past July, despite Rogoff's unanimous appointment by a judicial panel. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the move on X: "District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them," according to CNBC. Rogoff has sued, calling the firing unconstitutional. Last year the administration also pushed out Desiree Leigh Grace as New Jersey's U.S. attorney to keep Trump's former personal lawyer, Alina Habba, in the job.

Whether Trump can simply fire Pirro, a Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney, over a prosecutorial judgment call he disagrees with is now the live question. Rogoff's pending lawsuit could produce a court ruling that clarifies the limits of that power, one way or the other. Pirro's office did not respond to CNBC's request for comment, and as of Monday no formal personnel action against her had been announced.

Separately, the Justice Department reached a deal Monday with GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis that rescinds the "anti-weaponization fund" and narrows an IRS audit settlement's scope, clearing the path for Blanche's attorney general nomination to advance out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to CBS News. Cornyn said the agreement drove "a stake through the heart" of the fund. That fight, unrelated to the reflecting pool case, shows the same acting attorney general navigating multiple fronts of internal GOP and administration friction at once.