Trump clashes with Pirro over Reflecting Pool vandalism charge drop

President Donald Trump brushed off a question about whether he was considering firing Jeanine Pirro after publicly clashing with his handpicked U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool case. Pirro’s office had moved to drop a criminal charge against David Hearn, a former Olympian and Olympic canoe racer, after saying new evidence showed the damage came from flawed construction or installation, not vandalism.

Trump said he disagreed with Pirro “100%” and insisted the Reflecting Pool had been vandalized, even while acknowledging there may have been “some contractor difficulty.” He kept up that line after Pirro’s office said the evidence no longer supported the charge, turning a charging decision into a public test of loyalty inside Trump’s law-and-order message.

Hearn had been indicted in Washington, D.C. court on a single count of property destruction tied to damage at the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said the damage was caused by shoddy or flawed construction and installation, a finding that directly contradicted Trump’s version of events.

The dispute carried added weight because Pirro is one of Trump’s own appointees in the capital, where the Justice Department has been central to his promises of tougher policing and punishment. By skipping over the question of whether he still had confidence in Pirro, Trump left the issue unresolved in public, even as he used the case to criticize her handling of a prosecution he says should have stood.