President Donald Trump publicly disagreed with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro‘s decision to drop charges against a former Olympian who had been accused of damaging the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump made his comments on a Truth Social post.
According to The Independent, the dispute follows Pirro’s court filing on Friday, in which she admitted that damage to the pool’s newly installed liner was caused by poor installation work, not by the man she had charged. Pirro moved to dismiss the felony destruction of property charge against David Hearn.
Trump’s post came less than a day after Pirro’s filing. In it, Trump said the situation involved more than just the pool liner, pointing to damage on the surrounding grass as well.
Trump says damage included markings on the grass near the pool
In his post, Trump wrote, “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro.” He continued, “I don’t know what she was thinking? 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.”
Trump also shared a video on Truth Social showing three people near the Reflecting Pool. In the video, two people are seen leaning toward the pool, with one appearing to dip a hand into the water. A third person then leans down and dips a hand into the same spot several times, with a small crowd gathering nearby.
Trump wrote alongside the video, “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!” The video was recorded from a distance and is seen as grainy, making details hard to make out. The FBI had previously gotten involved after Trump’s earlier claims about vandals damaging the pool.
According to The Independent, Pirro had filed a one-count felony indictment against Hearn earlier this month, accusing him of deliberately destroying the pool’s newly installed liner. Hearn denied the accusation and pleaded not guilty, saying the pool was already damaged when he arrived. At least one Republican lawmaker had suggested the administration drop the vandalism claims and attribute the pool’s problems to algae and science instead.
In her Friday filing, Pirro said her office had been misled by the Interior Department, which she said misrepresented that “nearly all of the damage” to the pool was caused by vandals when it was actually the result of faulty installation. She said the peeling was linked to rushed repair work carried out by a contractor working on a government project for the first time, under a no-bid contract.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum pushed back on Pirro’s conclusion. Writing on X on Saturday, he said, “The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool. Some of these acts were even caught on camera. We 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.”
The case drew criticism online after Pirro’s reversal. Attorney Mark Zaid, who focuses on national security cases, called the situation “absolutely embarrassing” on X for Pirro and said he expects “a public apology is forthcoming to all of those adversely affected by these frivolous prosecutions.”
Political scientist Norman Ornstein wrote on X that Pirro “is utterly culpable and should be removed and disbarred.” Attorney and MediasTouch editor Ron Filipkowski also called for Pirro to be disbarred, saying it was “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 commentator Scott Jennings also criticized the administration’s handling of the evidence, saying Hearn is “owed an apology.” Speaking on CNN’s The Source, Jennings said, “The administration looks like a monkey having intimate relations with a football,” and added that Hearn “ought to sue anybody that he thinks he can to get his name back.”
