The top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, visited the White House on Monday carrying a box of evidence intended to demonstrate to President Trump that recent damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool resulted from faulty construction rather than acts of vandalism. Sources familiar with the situation indicated that Pirro, a prominent ally of the president, engaged in a private and reportedly intense discussion in the Oval Office regarding the matter.
This meeting occurred shortly after President Trump publicly criticized Pirro for her decision to drop criminal charges against Olympic canoeist David Hearn. Earlier that day, the president had accused the prosecutor of folding “like an umbrella” following the Friday filing of a motion to dismiss the felony case. Pirro was later observed leaving the White House with a large white box and several bags, which sources identified as containing documentation from the Interior Department that cleared Hearn and others of vandalism allegations.
In the court filing, prosecutors asserted that the Interior Department had withheld critical information until after a grand jury in D.C. Superior Court had already returned an indictment. The motion argued that the damage was the result of a “botched installation” by a contractor. This position directly contradicts claims made by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who stated on X this past Saturday that the evidence clearly points to repeated vandalism.
Following the move to dismiss the case against Hearn, the U.S. Attorney’s office has also sought to drop charges against three other individuals previously accused of damaging the site. A spokesperson for Pirro’s office declined to provide comment on the ongoing developments.
Pirro’s office has faced several high-profile legal hurdles recently involving figures and issues of interest to the president. Earlier this year, a grand jury unanimously declined to indict six Democratic lawmakers who had posted a video encouraging military members to disregard orders they deemed illegal—a rare outcome in federal proceedings. Additionally, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently quashed grand jury subpoenas issued by Pirro’s office aimed at former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Those subpoenas, which sought information regarding a renovation project and Powell’s congressional testimony, were dismissed by the judge as a pretext to pressure the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates. Although Pirro eventually abandoned the investigation, the effort included an unannounced visit by her deputies to a Federal Reserve construction site, where they were denied access. Kristin Brown contributed to this report.
