The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC, is saying that the damage done to the pool is more likely the result of poor remodeling work.
Trump blasts Jeanine Pirro after Reflecting Pool case collapse
Trump criticizes Jeanine Pirro after DOJ drops Reflecting Pool vandalism case tied to contractor errors in Washington.
Federal prosecutors reportedly moved on Monday, Aug. 3, to drop their cases against people charged with vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC.
David Hearn, Justin Carreno, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Cameron Thiers faced charges of vandalism filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in connection with damage to the iconic DC pond that sits between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. President Donald Trump had previously described the supposed pool-damaging culprits as “SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE.”
The office for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, however, decided to drop the cases after concluding that contractors, not vandals, were to blame for the pool’s deteriorated state, according to reporting by The New York Times and WUSA9.
Prosecutors reportedly dropped their cases against Dennison-Gibby and Thiers on Monday. Cases against Hearn and Carreno were dropped Friday, July 31.
USA TODAY has reached out to Pirro for comment.
What will Trump say?
The move to drop the last of the Reflecting Pool cases comes after Trump has repeatedly alleged the pool was vandalized.
“To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM,” the president said as late as Saturday, Aug. 1, in a statement on an official Trump social media account. “There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”
Trump said Pirro “choked” after her office dropped its case against Hearn, an Olympic canoeist.
“I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro,” Trump told reporters Aug. 3 in the Oval Office. “She folded like an umbrella.”
The White House did not immediately respond to USA TODAY requests for comment on the latest moves from Pirro’s office.
What happened to the Reflecting Pool?
The president started making accusations of vandalism regarding the Reflecting Pool earlier in the summer when the White House was in the midst of revamping the DC landmark for America 250 celebrations.
Shortly after renovations, the lining began to peel and the water turned green. Trump blamed the pool’s deterioration on nefarious actors.
According to Pirro’s office, a rushed renovation by the Trump’s administration’s hand-picked contractor is to blame.
The Reflecting Pool suffered from a “flawed installation by the contractor… and the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026,” according to Pirro’s office.