U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro visited the White House on Monday, hours after President Donald Trump publicly criticized her office’s handling of a criminal case involving alleged damage to the Reflecting Pool.
The visit came after Pirro’s office moved Friday to dismiss a felony charge against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoe slalomist who had been accused of damaging government property.
Hearn was charged last month with one felony count of destruction of government property and pleaded not guilty to the allegation.
When the charge was announced, Pirro said prosecutors could prove Hearn damaged the Reflecting Pool by ripping up its lining. The prosecution followed claims by Trump that the Reflecting Pool, which had experienced algae blooms and peeling paint, had been destroyed by vandals.
Speaking with reporters on Monday, Trump expressed frustration over the case being dropped and suggested Pirro mishandled the prosecution.
“Frankly, I think she choked,” Trump said.
The president went on to blame the judge assigned to the case, saying the court directed criticism toward Pirro and her office instead of those responsible for the alleged damage.
“Because the judge was really vicious,” Trump said. “Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department, and I guess she choked. I don’t know what the hell happened.”
Just hours after the president’s remarks, multiple news outlets reported seeing Pirro arrive at and later depart from the White House.
According to ABC News, sources said Trump had privately discussed the possibility of firing Pirro.
CNN correspondent Kit Maher also reported seeing Pirro leaving the White House grounds. Maher shared a photograph showing Pirro wheeling a briefcase and a white box as she exited, noting they appeared to be the same items an aide had brought into the West Wing earlier in the day.
Pirro’s office had previously explained its decision to dismiss the criminal charge in a court filing submitted Friday.
In the motion to dismiss, Pirro said the Department of the Interior failed to provide prosecutors with information showing the damage to the Reflecting Pool resulted from what she described as a “botched” renovation rather than criminal conduct.
According to the filing, the missing information prevented prosecutors from determining before the charge was filed that the condition of the pool was linked to the renovation work.
That explanation drew criticism from CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig, who argued prosecutors are responsible for gathering the necessary facts before bringing criminal charges.
“It’s your job as a prosecutor to get the relevant information first,” Honig said Friday.
“You don’t charge first and then figure it out,” he continued. “You get the information first and then charge.”
Honig called the situation “a true embarrassment” for both Pirro and the Department of Justice, arguing that the prosecutors themselves were responsible for the outcome.
The developments marked a difficult stretch for Pirro, who faced public criticism from the president following the dismissal of a high-profile prosecution before making an unannounced visit to the White House later the same day, fueling further attention surrounding the case and her future in the administration.
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