WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday publicly criticized U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro over her office's decision to drop criminal charges in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case, accusing the longtime ally of mishandling the prosecution after federal prosecutors concluded the damage was caused by faulty construction rather than vandalism.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said Pirro "choked" and "folded like a cheap umbrella" by abandoning the case against former Olympian David Hearn, who had been charged with damaging the recently renovated Reflecting Pool. Trump maintained that surveillance evidence supported allegations of deliberate vandalism, although he did not publicly provide new evidence to support that claim.
Pirro's office last week moved to dismiss the charges after informing a federal court that investigators had determined the damage resulted from a botched installation of the pool's new lining rather than criminal conduct. Prosecutors subsequently sought dismissal of additional cases against other defendants linked to the investigation after reaching the same conclusion.
The Reflecting Pool became a political flashpoint after the Trump administration blamed repeated failures in the multimillion-dollar renovation on alleged acts of vandalism. Court filings by federal prosecutors later stated that the primary cause of the damage was defective construction work, reversing the government's earlier position.
Trump declined to say whether he would seek Pirro's removal from her position. Neither Pirro's office nor the White House immediately responded to requests for additional comment following the president's latest remarks. As of publication, the charges against the defendants had been dismissed, and no new criminal filings had been announced.
