Jeanine Pirro's motion to dismiss the Reflecting Pool case is going to have ripple effects
The decision to end the case against former Olympian David Hearn is already making a big splash — and this is likely just the beginning, not the end, of the matter.
On Friday, the big news was that the Trump administration was dropping its Reflecting Pool vandalism charges against former Olympian David Hearn.
“[I]nformation show[s] that the damage“ to the Reflecting Pool “was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by [the Department of the Interior],“ D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and an assistant told the court in a Friday filing.
That big news, however, is just the beginning. Pirro might have been addressing the Reflecting Pool renovation, but Friday’s development is already making a big splash — and is going to have continued, expanding ripple effects.
Only the second Trump administration could find a way to get so bogged down in such a shallow pool.
The felony indictment that Pirro’s office brought alleged that Hearn had caused more than $1,000 worth of damage to the Reflecting Pool. It was a facially absurd claim when it was made on July 2 in a Pirro press conference that was roundly mocked at the time.
Unsurprisingly, the indictment did not stick.
Less than a month later, Pirro and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Spence filed Friday’s motion to dismiss the indictment against Hearn.
Although not nearly the most important — or most harmful — development of the past 18-plus months, the 20-page filing might be as remarkable a document as we’ve seen in the second Trump administration.
On Friday, Pirro and Spence wrote that “additional documents“ provided by the Interior Department subsequent to Pirro’s decision to seek indictment of Hearn “indicat[ed] that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings (‘AIC’), and the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.”
This, of course, is exactly what it appeared to be.
But, instead, Pirro led her July 2 news conference addressing monument vandalism, or, as she called it, “an affront to the dignity of our shared history.” Insisting it was a day of “accountability,” Pirro addressed the felony indictment against Hearn by saying that Hearn made “a deliberate act to damage the Reflecting Pool“ and alleged that he did so “forcefully and violently.”
The day she brought the case, NBC News’s Ryan Reilly asked about pre-existing problems with the renovation and Pirro waved him off, saying, “Irrespective of whether or not we think that there is some situation that preceded it, we can state and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he caused damage and that damage is over $1,000.”
On July 31, Pirro and Spence told the court the opposite.
Explaining that they got significantly more information from Interior after seeking and getting the indictment, they stated that, after reviewing that information, it was clear that “[t]he rush to complete the project led to hasty and botched work that was not remediated before the project was finished and the fencing removed.“
The pair continued:
Pirro and Spence told the court of damage “even in the middle of the pool,” concluding that it is “difficult to attribute the widespread damage” to vandalism, “let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.“
In other words, they concluded that they could not “prove beyond a reasonable doubt that [Hearn] caused damage and that damage is over $1,000,“ as Pirro said they could do on July 2.
As such, they asked for the case to be dismissed without prejudice — meaning they could seek another indictment if circumstances change again.
This is, to be sure, a story about the Justice Department beclowning itself yet again.
But, there are a number of other key points here. First:
The grand jury: As we have seen in other cases, courts are becoming increasingly more willing to open up grand jury proceedings to investigation, given the Justice Department’s behavior in the second Trump administration. NBC News’s Reilly had reported earlier in the week that Hearn would have been seeking to do so here.
The new counsel: Hours before the motion to dismiss the case was filed, Michael Bromwich made an appearance in the case. Senior counsel at Steptoe, Bromwich is a prior inspector general at the Justice Department whose firm bio notes that, in recent years, he has “represented dozens of clients in two special counsel investigations, multiple inspector general investigations, and in numerous investigations conducted by federal regulatory agencies such as the Office of Special Counsel.” Bromwich’s presence immediately made clear that Hearn was ready to play hardball here.
Related to both of those factors, it’s important to see how wholly Pirro’s office sought to throw the Interior Department under the bus. It’s almost unbelievable to read.
Friday’s motion addressed pre-indictment information:
On July 1, 2026, United States Attorney Jeanine Pirro and senior USAO-DC supervisors met with DOI employees, including NPS and USPP personnel, at the Reflecting Pool, which remained filled with water, making it difficult to observe the condition of the floor of the entire pool, which was mostly obscured as it covered with water. The DOI employees directed USAO-DC personnel to the particular area related to the defendant’s conduct, but none of the DOI employees suggested that the poor condition of the Reflecting Pool was largely the result of failures during the process of installing the liner.
They then added, “USAO-DC was not in possession of any information from DOI indicating that any damage to the Reflecting Pool was caused by anything other than the actions of the defendant and other vandals who damaged the pool’s lining.“
They went on to note the subsequent developments:
On July 17, 2026, as a defense expert inspected the now-drained Reflecting Pool, United States Attorney Pirro and senior USAO-DC employees once again visited the site and this time immediately noted extensive damage throughout the now-drained pool. It was at that time that USAO-DC first became aware of the significant damage throughout the pool and accordingly requested all documents from DOI concerning the how the pool was lined and all records regarding the installation of the lining.
They explained that, in response, “USAO-DC received 695 megabytes of additional documents from DOI, which took days to review.“ This, they insisted, “was the first time that DOI made USAO-DC aware” of the “rushed and flawed installation process” that led to “repeated failures of the lining” and “extensive peeling of the lining.“
Of course, there’s no mention of reporting prior to that that should have made it apparent to anyone that these questions existed. Further, there is no explanation of how, even if they “immediately noted extensive damage” on July 17 and not before than, it took them two weeks to address this in Hearn’s case.
Ultimately, however, they did conclude that “these recently-produced materials significantly undermine the evidentiary basis for the indictment“ and asked for the case to be dismissed.
Which brings us to the next issue.
They did so, of course, knowing that this directly contradicted President Donald Trump’s longstanding, ridiculous claims about how his Reflecting Pool renovation was stymied by vandals — not by his and his staff’s own incompetence.
Trump, unsurprisingly, lashed out.
Trump posted that he “disagree[s] 100% with Jeanine Pirro … on the Reflecting Pool,” going on to talk about and post a picture of attempts to “emblazon[]“ 86 47 on the grass on the National Mall.
So, why did Pirro and Spence do all of this?
The answer was shoved in one paragraph on page 18 of Friday’s filing:
Jeanine Pirro and Michael Spence essentially argued in the motion to dismiss the Hearn case that any legal or ethical fallout from this indictment should lie with the Department of the Interior, not with them.
That is how bad Pirro and Spence realize this is.
Friday’s motion to dismiss the David Hearn case is more likely an opening — rather than the closing — salvo in this matter.
Yes. Pirro's decision to drop the case will have ripple effects. The ripples will be in the waves that wash her ashore from the U.S. Attorney's position.
How did Pirro imagine this was going to end? She clearly knew that her presser statements were lies. Did she think that she wouldn't get caught; or did she anticipate taking this most of the way, then likely abandoning or downgrading to something insignificant after having publicly terrorized someone? Even in a wine-stoked-fantasy she should have known this would not go well.