'She Folded Like an Umbrella': Trump Turns on Jeanine Pirro After Her Office Admits a Contractor Damaged the Reflecting Pool

President Trump publicly attacked his own U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia on Monday, telling reporters in the Oval Office that Jeanine Pirro had buckled when her office abandoned the criminal cases it had brought over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

"I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro," Trump said. "She folded like an umbrella." He added: "Frankly, I think she choked."

The cases collapsed after the Interior Department turned over internal records that undercut the government's theory of the crime. The documents described a sealant application at the pool that had suffered "frequent setbacks due to poor weather and damage occurring to the pool while sealant was being applied." In other words, the marks prosecutors had presented as vandalism were consistent with a contractor's botched installation.

The lead defendant was David Hearn, a former Olympian from Maryland, charged with felony vandalism for allegedly ripping sealant from the pool and causing more than $1,000 in damage. Hearn said he had stopped by the pool during a bike ride on June 19 and was arrested after reaching down to touch it. Prosecutors moved to dismiss his case on Friday, Aug. 1. Pirro's office then dropped or moved to dismiss misdemeanor property-destruction charges against three others: Justin Carreno, a government contractor, along with Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Cameron Thiers, each accused of causing damage valued under $1,000.

Hearn's lawyers were unsparing. The case "should never have been brought," they said, and the government "owes Mr. Hearn an apology." Attorney David Benowitz went further, saying the government "literally fabricated a crime."

The reversal was especially awkward because Pirro had personally announced the Hearn prosecution at a news conference, presenting it as part of a broader push against the defacement of national monuments and what the administration has repeatedly characterized as civil disorder in the capital. That framing made the case a signature item rather than a routine misdemeanor docket, and its unraveling a visible loss.

Pirro's job appears safe for now. She met with Trump on Monday and neither resigned nor was fired, according to people familiar with the meeting, who said the president was angry about the decision but stopped short of removing her. Prosecutors have limited room to maneuver once exculpatory evidence surfaces: continuing a prosecution after the government's own agency has documented an innocent explanation for the alleged damage would expose the office to sanctions and near-certain dismissal by a judge.

What remains unresolved is whether the office will look at how the charges were approved in the first place, given that the Interior Department records existed before the arrests were made.