There’s a $14 million reflecting pool at the center of this story, and as of this week, nobody’s actually being prosecuted for damaging it.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for D.C. and a former Fox News host Trump appointed to the post himself, had spent months pursuing vandalism charges against Olympic canoeist David Hearn and several other defendants over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Last week, though, her office reversed course, telling the court it had received new information pointing to a “flawed installation” by a contractor as the real cause, not sabotage.
By Monday, Pirro’s office had moved to drop charges against three more defendants, all facing misdemeanors. Trump had already signaled where he stood over the weekend, posting on Truth Social: “I disagree 100%” with the decision.
Trump: “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.” pic.twitter.com/sjbKKTY4uv
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 1, 2026
Once reporters caught up with him in the Oval Office, he made sure everyone heard it.
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“I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. She folded like an umbrella,” he said.
Pushed for more, he added: “Frankly, I think she choked because the judge was really vicious. 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.”
He was referring to D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman, who had presided over the case.
The conversation didn’t get any friendlier from there.
Asked whether he was reconsidering Pirro’s job, Trump skipped the question entirely and turned his attention to the reporter instead. “You’re fake news. Don’t ever talk again,” he said, before ignoring another question about whether he planned to fire her.
🚨 BREAKING: Total Oval Office chaos as Trump turns on his own U.S. Attorney over the botched $14M Reflecting Pool disaster.
“I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, she folded like an umbrella… it’s a disgrace.”
25th AMENDMENT NOW:
Dude is not well, he transformed a botched… pic.twitter.com/2Zkz9OxcDJ— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) August 3, 2026
It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d made a quick change.
Back in mid July, Trump dismissed Roger Rogoff less than an hour after Rogoff was sworn in to lead the Western District of Washington, wiping out a unanimous judicial panel appointment almost immediately. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche later stepped in to override the selection.
Meanwhile, Pirro was spotted leaving the White House later that Monday afternoon, only hours after Trump’s public criticism, though it wasn’t immediately clear why she had been there. CBS News later reported that multiple sources described her job as safe for now and said she and Trump had spoken privately inside the Oval Office.
The dispute also reached back to how the case began.
Trump had spent weeks insisting the reflecting pool’s refilling problems in June were caused by vandals armed with knives and box cutters, a claim that shaped the prosecution his own Justice Department has now abandoned. The renovation itself had already ballooned from an original estimate of $1.8 million to roughly $14.2 million after algae and discoloration problems forced the pool to be drained and refilled again.
Pirro wasn’t exactly a quiet pick to begin with.
When she was confirmed last August, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin said: “She’s a January 6 apologist, siding with violent insurrectionists over law enforcement and supporting criminal charges against line prosecutors who handled insurrection-related cases. She’s an election denialist, recklessly peddling President Trump’s Big Lie despite even her own Fox News producers and executives warning her to reel it in.”
Featured image via X screengrab
