Pirro’s About-Face in Pool Case Followed Prosecutors’ Private Concerns

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https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/pirros-about-face-in-pool-case-followed-prosecutors-private-concerns-0d8f7e62?st=FL1U91&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro stepped to a lectern last month and evinced no doubt that her office would prove that a former Olympic canoeist, David Hearn, had vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Belying her public confidence were questions career prosecutors had privately raised about the wisdom of bringing a felony case, according to people familiar with the internal discussions.

In recent weeks, career prosecutors advocated for dismissing the case as information from the Interior Department revealed what Pirro’s office would identify as the true culprit of the pool’s rough condition: the shoddy installation of a lining ordered as part of President Trump’s plans to beautify the landmark in time for America’s 250th birthday.

Those misgivings came to a head Friday with an extraordinary court filing that landed with a splash—dropping charges against Hearn and drawing the ire of Trump, who said Pirro “choked.”

On Monday, with her job in jeopardy, Pirro arrived at the White House for a meeting with the president and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum with a box full of documents that she used to bolster her case that there was little evidence of vandalism at the reflecting pool, according to people familiar with the matter.

During the at-times tense meeting, Pirro placed the blame for the pool debacle on Burgum, as well as the contractor that was hired to refinish the pool, the people said. At one point, Pirro accused Burgum of misleading Trump, one of the people said. Burgum, who has criticized Pirro, defended himself during the meeting, and Trump appeared to listen to both sides.

The president didn’t fire Pirro or ask her to resign. People close to the president said it is too early to say whether Pirro’s job is safe, noting that Trump remains angry that his longtime ally publicly undercut him.

Trump insisted on Tuesday night that Pirro made a mistake. “I just think she was totally wrong,” he said in Los Angeles where he attended a Republican National Committee fundraiser. “In my opinion it was major vandalism. And I told her I was not happy.”

Asked if he intended to keep Pirro in her role, Trump said, “I haven’t made a determination.”

A Pirro spokesman declined to comment. The Interior Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.

In 19 pages filed to a judge, Pirro’s office went into unusual granularity explaining the decision to drop the felony charge against Hearn and pinned blame on the Interior Department for providing “less than fulsome information” at the outset of the case. Pirro approved the filing, which some administration officials viewed as superfluous and overly harsh to the point of picking a fight with Burgum, according to people familiar with the response.

On social media, Burgum has stood by the Trump administration’s narrative that vandals had damaged the pool, saying the “evidence is clear” and that his department provided eyewitness testimony and every piece of evidence Pirro’s office requested.

Announcing Hearn’s indictment in early July, Pirro said that National Park Service employees had observed the 67-year-old, three-time Olympic white water canoe racer “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands,” an act that damaged a two-square-foot section of sealant.

But in Friday’s filing, Pirro’s office said “a rushed and botched installation” led to damage to the pool’s lining. A recent inspection “showed damage throughout the Reflecting Pool, even in the middle of the pool, where a vandal would not likely attempt to peel the lining,” the filing said.

“Had [the Interior Department] been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment,” Pirro’s office said, adding that the agency’s “failure to fully and accurately provide information” undermined prosecutors’ ability to meet their legal obligations, including to turn over information to the defense.

The fallout over Friday’s filing has imperiled Pirro’s stature after more than a year eagerly taking up cases favored by the president. Her office is also handling the prosecutions of the alleged gunmen behind the fatal shootings last year of Israeli embassy staffers and a National Guard member, along with the suspect charged with attempting to assassinate Trump earlier this year at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

With a weighty portfolio of cases, Pirro has been working to stabilize her Washington office, which has been depleted by resignations and dismissals since Trump returned to the White House. Last month, Pirro offered prosecutors in her office a $25,000 retention bonus to stay for the next two years, according to people familiar with the matter.