President Trump has publicly condemned U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro’s decision to dismiss a felony vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn, calling her move an outright misjudgment of the evidence.
The president issued his rebuke Saturday after Pirro filed a motion Friday seeking dismissal of the indictment alleging Hearn vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. In a statement that drew immediate attention, Trump wrote: “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM… There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”
The dismissal motion followed new evidence obtained from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which indicated the pool liner damage resulted from flawed contractor installation and rushed project completion ahead of America’s 250th anniversary events. Prosecutors argued this information undermined the factual basis for the original felony charge under D.C.’s property destruction statute, which alleged over $1,000 in damages caused by Hearn tearing up newly installed blue sealant on June 19.
Pirro’s office initially indicted Hearn in July after a grand jury found sufficient evidence to proceed, emphasizing that deliberate damage to the national landmark would be prosecuted. The motion to dismiss, however, asserted the new evidence rendered the case unproven beyond a reasonable doubt and left prosecutors free to retry if additional evidence emerged.
Trump has shifted focus to the visible damage itself, urging Americans to examine the site where he claims “the material could be seen being cut with a knife or box cutter.” His public stance directly challenges Pirro’s office over whether vandalism occurred as described, demanding accountability for actions that remain unexplained by contractor difficulties alone.
