Trump’s post marks his latest break with norms of independence between the White House and the Justice Department that date back to the Nixon administration’s Watergate scandal.
Trump address alleged Reflecting Pool vandalism, Pirro
President Donald Trump says he’s not decided on keeping U.S. attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro after she dropped the Reflecting Pool vandalism case.
President Donald Trump is calling on Washington, DC, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro to revisit her decision to drop the prosecution of an Olympian over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro should re-visit her hastily made decision,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Aug. 7. He said she should “especially” reconsider because the accused man’s lawyer is Norm Eisen, whom Trump called a “Political Hack Lawyer.”
Eisen is a former Obama White House ethics lawyer who cofounded the Democracy Defenders Fund, which is involved in many prominent cases against the administration. Neither he nor the Justice Department immediately responded to USA TODAY’s requests for comment.
Trump’s post marks his latest break with norms of independence between the White House and the Justice Department that date back to the time of the Nixon administration’s Watergate scandal.
Trump said Aug. 3 from the Oval Office that Pirro “folded like an umbrella” and he was “really disappointed” she was dropping the felony indictment for destruction of property against David Hearn, who competed as a canoeist in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. The DOJ had accused Hearn of yanking the pool’s lining and causing more than $1,000 in damage. The maximum sentence for the charge is 10 years in prison.
Pirro said in a July 31 court filing that the DOJ based its indictment against Hearn on “less than fulsome information” from the Department of the Interior, which has since provided evidence indicating the damage was caused by flawed installation during a rush to complete renovations ahead of Trump’s summer America 250 celebration.
In September 2025, Trump also publicly called on the DOJ to prosecute other personal targets of his, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Soon after, the department pursued charges against both, although a judge dismissed the cases in November.
The DOJ has since brought a new case against Comey that has been widely criticized as legally dubious, including by conservatives.
