WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s White House asked the Justice Department to examine potential new charges related to alleged vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool despite the department's decision to drop prior cases, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The discussions followed Trump’s fury at Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, for moving to dismiss cases against former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn and others accused of damaging the pool following Trump-ordered renovations.
White House Protocol Chief Monica Crowley posted an Instagram “SQUAD” photo featuring U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro amid intensifying speculation about Pirro’s standing. The post arrived as the Trump administration faced friction over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool case. A Justice Department filing from Pirro’s office said the pool’s peeling blue liner resulted from a “hasty and botched” $14 million renovation, not intentional vandalism. President Donald Trump rejected the department’s findings, said Pirro “choked,” and repeated claims that individuals cut the liner. Reports described a tense Oval Office meeting and noted Pirro remains in her role. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the president can dismiss officials. Pirro has not commented.
Pirro’s office dropped the case against Hearn after concluding that widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool, a landmark on Washington’s National Mall, was the result of flawed contracting work rather than intentional destruction, as Trump repeatedly alleged.
The discussions, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, indicate the Trump administration could seek to revive those cases and are another example of the White House intervening in criminal investigations, a sharp break from decadeslong Justice Department practice.
People are also reading…
Lawyers for Hearn said new charges would “add another bizarre turn to a sad chapter in the DOJ's history and further harass an innocent man."
The White House referred questions to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Washington, D.C., judge dismissed the case against Hearn and is set to decide in coming weeks whether to give prosecutors the opportunity to seek new charges or permanently end the prosecution.
People look through a fence Aug. 2 at the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington.
The most recent conversations involved the Criminal Division at Justice Department headquarters, which typically manages complex cases on corporate fraud, international gangs and other issues, rather than Pirro's office, whose remit includes criminal cases in Washington, according to the two people familiar with the matter. One of the people said the talks were aimed at exploring whether there was a basis to bring a misdemeanor case.
The conversations are preliminary and no final decision was made.
Hearn was indicted last month on a felony destruction of property charge after Pirro initially alleged he forcibly pulled on and damaged the lining on the bottom of the Reflecting Pool while cycling in the area. Hearn pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Less than a month later, prosecutors reversed course, telling a judge that newly disclosed documents showed a botched renovation, not vandalism, damaged the pool.
Trump raged at Pirro’s decision to drop the case and urged her to revisit it. He continued to blame issues with the $14.7 million project on vandals, despite acknowledging in a social media post Sunday that there was no proof of sabotage.
