The saga of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool may seem minor next to the torrent of controversies surrounding President Trump and his allies, but it encapsulates a troubling pattern of corruption, falsehoods, and abuse of power. The story began in April when Trump boasted that the pool would be “restored to all its glory,” blaming Presidents Obama and Biden for its poor condition. He handed no-bid contracts to cronies to install a water purification system and line the pool's bottom in American flag blue, at a cost of $1.5 million. But the liner soon peeled and bubbled, algae bloomed, and the water turned a murky green. The repair bill ballooned to over $16 million.
By early June, Trump was frantic that the renovation wouldn't be ready for America's 250th July 4 celebration. Then, on June 19, former Olympian David Hearn was arrested for destruction of property after touching a strip of the peeling blue paint. The Trump propaganda machine immediately spun the story, claiming shoddy workmanship was actually vandalism. Trump described a “350-foot gash” made with knives, but produced no evidence. A fence went up, and repair work continued in secret.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro joined the chorus, parroting Trump's incendiary rhetoric. Pirro, often criticized as the most lawless prosecutor in America, has a history of unethical conduct. As Westchester County DA, she called defendants “slime” and “perverts,” encouraged juries to “cage the bastards,” and called judges “idiots.” She's a close friend of Trump, who has called her “sexy as hell,” and she sometimes attends Oval Office meetings.
After losing races for New York attorney general and senator, Pirro spent 14 years at Fox News, where she attacked Muslims as an “Islamic cancer” and promoted Trump's false 2020 election fraud claims. Her rhetoric made her a defendant in the defamation lawsuit that Fox settled for $787 million. Internal Fox emails referred to her as a “reckless maniac” and “insane,” noting she “finds random conspiracy theories on weird internet sites.”
Pirro's conduct has been rebuked by federal judges and is the subject of disciplinary complaints. Her prosecution targets have included U.S. senators, former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and several D.C. residents. In the Hearn case, she held a July 2 press conference flanked by officials from the Department of the Interior and the National Parks Service, describing Hearn's “unchecked vandalism” as “one of the most offensive images I have seen” and “an affront to the dignity of our shared history.” When reporters suggested the damage predated Hearn's act, she insisted, “Oh, he damaged it … he damaged this pool.”
But on July 31, Pirro moved to dismiss the charges, admitting the damage was not vandalism but “flawed installation by the contractor.” She said her office received reports and documents from the Department of the Interior showing contractors cut corners, used poor materials, and were generally deficient. She blamed the department for withholding critical materials until now. The motion included photographs detailing the cause of the damage.
The media has not probed deeper into Pirro's dramatic reversal. As an experienced federal prosecutor, she was about to present felony charges to a grand jury, charges that could affect a person's life and liberty forever. Did her office do any independent investigation after Hearn's arrest to ensure the case rested on credible and admissible evidence? Did she request all relevant reports, photos, and interviews from the Department of the Interior before charging Hearn? If not, why not? These questions remain unanswered.
The dropped charges have sparked political fallout, with Trump accusing Pirro of folding and Democrats seizing on the case to attack the Trump DOJ. Some, like commentator Jennings, urge Hearn to sue. The episode underscores the dangers of prosecutorial overreach driven by political loyalty.
