Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

In a court filing, former Fox News host-turned-U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro asked a judge to dismiss the federal indictment against U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who had been arrested and publicly accused by Pirro of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Pirro acknowledged that investigators had concluded the damage wasn't caused by Hearn after all, but by a "flawed installation" of the pool's newly installed liner.

The filing also contained a remarkable bit of finger-pointing: Pirro blamed the Trump administration's own Interior Department for withholding information that could have prevented the prosecution from moving forward. She wrote that officials at the Doug Bergum-led agency failed to disclose that the pool's liner had been improperly installed, despite "dozens and dozens" of requests from prosecutors. "Had [the Interior Department] been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment," Pirro acknowledged.

The Hill -President Trump called out U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Saturday for agreeing to dismiss the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn.

The Justice Department moved to drop the case on Friday, finding that the damage to the tidal basin resulted from a “rushed and botched installation,” not alleged vandalism. Trump a day later distanced himself from that decision.

“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “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.”