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Trump torn apart for 'mind-blowing hypocrisy' on Reflecting Pool retrial

In the wake of news that President Donald Trump is seeking to reprosecute Olympian David Hearn under charges of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool — allegations Trump’s own administration has debunked – a conservative journalist took to social media to point out the "mind-blown hypocrisy" of the situation.

“I'm sorry, I can't get over this,” wrote Reason reporter Billy Binion. “The most powerful person on earth is using the full force of government to jail a 67-year-old over an error his *own administration* oversaw. It is the epitome of government ‘weaponization.’ Mind-blowing hypocrisy. It's unconscionable.”

Binion made these comments while sharing a Wall Street Journal article that details Trump’s renewed effort to bring charges against Hearn. According to the Journal, “A new prosecution of the defendant, Olympic canoeist David Hearn, would be highly unusual, especially after Pirro told a judge in surprising detail that the government’s decision to indict him on a felony charge was ill-informed. Pirro said a botched renovation, not vandalism, was responsible for the reflecting pool’s problems.”

As the Journal notes, “Trump has repeatedly criticized Pirro since she dropped the case, and in a Friday social-media post said she ‘should revisit her hastily made decision.’ He also posted a photo, captioned ‘Vandalism,’ that he said showed graffiti and damage to the Reflecting Pool. On Sunday, Trump said that ‘a highly credible witness’ saw Hearn ripping and tugging at the pool’s coating.” This is despite the fact that the government’s own witness has already contradicted this assertion.

Per the Journal, “The discussion comes after Todd Blanche spent weeks trying to parry Senate concerns that he was too willing to bend the Justice Department to Trump’s will.” Confirmed over the weekend by a single vote, “Blanche, who was a top Trump defense attorney in private practice, has said it is the president’s right and duty to weigh in on the Justice Department’s criminal investigations. That view is a departure from that of his predecessors, who sought to avoid the appearance of White House interference in the agency’s affairs.”

Hearn co-counsel Norm Eisen said a new prosecution “would mark a shocking first: Bringing back from the dead a case that the DOJ lost by its own admission that it lacked the evidence to convict. This would add another bizarre turn to a sad chapter in the DOJ’s history — and further harass an innocent man.”

Binion agrees, writing, “For years we've heard complaints about how Biden weaponized the government against J6 rioters. Yet many of the high-profile people who've made money off those complaints seem strangely OK with Trump trying to imprison a senior citizen for a PR stunt. Can't reconcile that one.”

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Framed Olympian plots legal revenge over Trump’s 'continued harassment'

As President Donald Trump was drawing intense criticism over the damage the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool suffered, he turned his anger against former Olympian David Hearn — accusing him, without evidence, of vandalizing the pool. Now, according to Hearn's attorneys, he is considering legal action against Trump in response to the false accusation.

Hearn's attorneys — Democracy Defenders Fund's Norm Eisen, the Washington Litigation Group's Mary Dohrmann, and Steptoe LLP's Steve Levin — told Mediaite, "The government is continuing to attack an innocent man. Our first filing in the case on July 10 included photographic evidence from before Mr. Hearn touched the Reflecting Pool proving that he caused no damage. Our other filings provided even more proof. Finally, the U.S. Attorney's own motion on July 31 admitted the damage was caused by a 'botched installation and not vandalism.' We are reviewing all legal remedies, including for this continued harassment. It is outrageous."

Federal prosecutor and Trump appointee Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host, dropped the case against Hearn on July 31 — acknowledging that allegations she got from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum didn't pass the smell test.

According to Pirro, "the damage" that the Reflecting Pool suffered "was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by DOI."

Trump addressed the matter in a Sunday, August 9 post on his Truth Social platform, claiming, "ALERT: A National Park Service career employee, a highly credible witness, saw David Hearn (ActBlue) in broad daylight vandalize the Reflecting Pool by ‘violently’ ripping and tugging at the Pool's somewhat delicate coating."

Trump went on to write, "The National Park Service employee provided this witness testimony to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in early July, as seen below. Numerous other events took place, including using an acid like material on the just installed grass adjoining the Pool. On it were written the letters, '86 47,' a phrase probably gotten from James Comey. There was substantial other damage to the Reflecting Pool, also but, unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage, itself. We are working on the Pool, and it will reopen shortly. As with many jobs, there was also some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening, but it was a very small area of this massive Pool, and was relatively inconsequential. Security cameras have been, and are being, installed. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP."

But Trump got a fact-check from journalist Paul Farhi.

On X, formerly Twitter, Farhi posted, "So it was all a coverup? By the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney? The Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who loyally stood by the president every night on her national television show, including going to bat for his election lies? Which cost her employer $787.5 million? Heckuva coverup."

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Trump’s Reflecting Pool witch hunt takes a new turn

On Wednesday morning, attorneys for Olympian David Hearn – who has been facing charges of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool – filed a motion to dismiss the case “with prejudice,” arguing that he fears President Donald Trump may try to come after him again.

This is according to Lawfare editor Roger Parloff, who tweeted a screenshot of the motion, explaining, “Reflecting Pool defendant David Hearn, responding to Judge Jeanine [Pirro’s] conduct after filing a motion to dismiss, seeks dismissal with prejudice. Trump’s [and Secretary of the Interior Doug] Burgum’s conduct after dismissal show case’s political motivation and danger of harassment and re-prosecution.”

In the motion, Hearn’s lawyers emphasize that the case was “motivated by political considerations,” noting that both Trump and Burgum have “publicly attacked” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s decision to file for dismissal after she realized the case was groundless. Hearn’s attorneys argue that the Department of Justice has “repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to seek or reinstate criminal charges to satisfy the president, irrespective of the law or facts.” In light of “this risk of harassment and bad faith,” they requested “dismissal with prejudice,” which would close the case permanently.

Trump’s case against Hearn has blown up in spectacular fashion in recent days, after Pirro was forced to admit that the evidence was clear: the Reflecting Pool damage was caused by installation failures rather than vandals. Trump was furious with this outcome, telling reporters that she “choked” and “folded like an umbrella,” and that he was “100 percent” certain the damage was due to vandalism.

In the latest motion, Hearn’s attorneys cite a National Parks Service assessment from before the indictment that contradicts Trump’s claims, noting preexisting peeling and damage at “numerous locations throughout the pool.” The assessment suggests that vandalism was “possible,” but that it came “after initial peeling.” This has been a sticking point in the case for weeks. In mid-July, the government’s own witnesses admitted that photos of the damage were taken before Hearn touched the water, drawing into question how he could have been the culprit. He has maintained that he did touch the water and torn pool liner, but only to examine preexisting damage.

Now, Hearn’s attorneys say that “all options are on the table” when it comes to seeking recourse for his arrest. According to the Guardian, “Hearn ‘has a number of potential remedies’ after being prosecuted in connection with pool damage now attributed to faulty work by a contractor, attorney Steven Levin said in a statement. Levin added that those could include ‘civil suits, bar referrals for the prosecutors involved, request for sanctions and reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and expenses,’ and requests for investigations by various government entities, including Congress.”

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Trump accidentally exposes his own role in 'mendacious scheme'

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump may have accidentally exposed the degree to which he’s been involved with the “mendacious scheme” to prosecute Olympian David Hearn under false charges of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. According to commentators, a new social media post may provide Hearn’s lawyers with more evidence against the government, should he seek legal recourse.

It’s all because of a post Trump made on Sunday to Truth Social, in which he claimed, “A National Park Service career employee, a highly credible witness, saw David Hearn (ActBlue) in broad daylight vandalize the Reflecting Pool by ‘violently’ ripping and tugging at the Pool’s somewhat delicate coating. The National Park Service employee provided this witness testimony to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in early July[.]"

The president has been outraged by the Justice Department’s decision to drop the case against Hearn when it was found that documents from an investigation by the Interior Department contradicted the prosecution’s argument. After U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a decades-long Trump ally, filed a motion to dismiss the case — noting that “the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by DOI” — the president declared that she “choked” and “folded like an umbrella,” then continued to insist on Hearn’s guilt.

“Donald Trump is doing a great job building up David Hearn's civil case against the government,” said New Republic political columnist Greg Sargent, “which could give him and his lawyers another lever to crowbar loose more communications between DOJ and other agencies leading to his indictment.”

“Indeed,” replied lawyer and legal analyst David Lurie. “‘Truths’ like this appear to make the President himself part of the mendacious scheme that Pirro's office effectively portrayed in their court filing.”’

Trump’s post follows demands from the top Democrats on two Senate committees overseeing the Interior that an investigation be launched into how the vandalism lie was “cooked up” in the first place. According to a letter, “The Interior Department had publicly blamed damage to the pool’s new liner on ‘vandals,’ a claim echoed by Trump and prosecutors who pressed charges against several people. The Justice Department on Friday said that Interior officials did not share relevant internal information that indicated the problems were due to contractors’ mistakes and has dropped the cases ... Numerous questions remain: How was the vandalism lie cooked up? How did it get to President Trump’s desk? Or did it originate from the White House?”

Thanks to his ongoing accusations against Hearn, suggest commentators, Trump may be providing more clues as to where the “scheme” came from. What’s more, while Trump began his latest Reflecting Pool post claiming the damage was caused by Hearn, he ended it by admitting that “there was also some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening.”

All of this comes amidst reports that Hearn’s legal team is considering taking legal action against the government. According to Hearn's attorneys, "The government is continuing to attack an innocent man. Our first filing in the case on July 10 included photographic evidence from before Mr. Hearn touched the Reflecting Pool proving that he caused no damage. Our other filings provided even more proof. Finally, the U.S. Attorney's own motion on July 31 admitted the damage was caused by a 'botched installation and not vandalism.' We are reviewing all legal remedies, including for this continued harassment. It is outrageous."

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Pirro’s 'galaxy-brain plan' to appease Trump will 'spectacularly backfire'

President Donald Trump is rumored to be furious and considering firing US Attorney Jeanine Pirro over her decision not to pursue a criminal case against Olympian David Hearn — and her possible attempt to save face could “spectacularly backfire,” according to one legal expert.

“Last week, WaPo reported that a “special grand jury” has been empaneled in D.C.,” Lawfare’s Anna Bower wrote on X on Monday. “Could U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro use that grand jury to release a damaging report against Trump’s critics?”

Bower added, “If that’s her galaxy-brain plan, it’s not a very good one.”

In her Lawfare analysis on special grand juries, Bower pointed out that “turning one loose to investigate purported crimes can, on occasion, spectacularly backfire.” A specialized tool created through the Organized Crime Act of 1970 to make it easier for prosecutors to address complex organized crime cases, special grand juries are like regular grand juries in that they both operate in secrecy and are empowered to subpoena documents, require testimony and issue indictments. They are also mandatory to be empaneled every 18 months in judicial districts with over four million people, although they can be used under distinct circumstances in smaller districts as well. Special grand juries can also be convened for up to 36 months, twice as long as regular grand juries.

Perhaps most notably, special grand juries are allowed to issue a public report at the end of their time, which regular grand juries cannot do. According to Bower, this makes them less potent as a political weapon against Trump’s critics.

“Beyond the statutory limitations, the practical realities of this particular special grand jury make the idea of using its report as a political weapon look even less plausible,” Bower wrote. “A report can only be submitted with the concurrence of a majority of the grand jurors. And this is, after all, a D.C. grand jury. Pirro’s office has already had a remarkably difficult time persuading D.C. jurors to go along with some of its more politically charged prosecutions.”

She added, “And the judge who will likely decide whether any report becomes public is hardly a pushover. That task would fall to Chief Judge James Boasberg, who has already had occasion to criticize Pirro’s use of grand jury powers. Earlier this year, he quashed subpoenas issued in Pirro’s investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, concluding that the government had produced ‘essentially zero evidence’ of a crime and that the subpoenas were issued for an improper purpose."

Overall, this caused Bower to conclude that if Pirro is convening a special grand jury in the hope of pleasing Trump by continuing to pursue his political adversaries, she may be making a serious mistake.

“All of which is to say: If Pirro’s objective is simply to conduct a long-running criminal investigation, a special grand jury may give her a useful tool,” Bower wrote. “But if the objective is to manufacture a public document condemning Trump’s political enemies, the tool looks considerably less formidable. The statute was not written to give prosecutors a mechanism for publishing accusations they cannot otherwise persuade a grand jury to charge.” Ultimately “if you give a grand jury the opportunity to speak, you cannot count on it to tell the story you want it to tell.”

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Trump keeps pressure on Pirro as aides beg him to drop 'nuts' obsession

Although federal prosecutor and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro has been a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, the U.S. president questioned her loyalty after she dropped a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) case against former Olympian David Hearn — who Trump accused, without evidence, of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Pirro stated that there was no case and no credible evidence against Hearn. But Trump, according to The Hill, wants Pirro to reopen the case despite her objections. And he is reportedly considering firing Pirro from DOJ.

Journalists Julia Manchester and Sophie Brams, reporting in The Hill, explain, "It's unclear whether President Trump will ultimately fire U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally, but his recent comments and posts about the Reflecting Pool signal he is not letting the possibility go anytime soon. Pirro's future in the Trump administration has not yet been guaranteed roughly a week after Trump lashed out at the former Fox News host over her move to drop vandalism charges against U.S. Olympian David Hearn."

In a Friday, August 7 post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, " Now that people are able to see it up close, they are reporting pure VANDALISM at The Reflecting Pool…. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro should re-visit her hastily made decision." But with the 2026 midterms less than three months away, some Trump allies believe that his obsession with Hearn isn't doing Republicans any good.

Manchester and Brams report, "Some Republicans say they view the entire saga surrounding the Reflecting Pool, as well as the administration's other renovation projects, as an unnecessary distraction when the president's focus should be on the midterms."

A former senior Trump White House official, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told The Hill, "He needs to focus on the economy, wrapping up the Iran war and nothing else if he's going to have any chance of holding the House. If Trump loses the House or Senate, the Reflecting Pool will be the least of his problems. He won't get the Arch, he won't get the ballroom, and he won't get the statues. So, he needs to remember that."

That source also told The Hill, "The fact that he is still wasting even a moment thinking about the Reflecting Pool with under three months before the midterms is just nuts."

Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, however, is furious with Pirro.

During a Monday, August 10 appearance on Steve Bannon's "War Room" vodcast, Navarro angrily said, "Never mention her friggin' name to me because that woman still refuses to fire John Crabb, the prosecutor who was involved in putting you and me behind bars. Jeanine, are you listening?"

Law professor and former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, a frequent legal analyst for MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), argues it is highly improper for Trump to be pressuring Pirro in this way.

DOJ alumni McQuade told The Hill, "(Justice Department) policy specifically provides that partisan politics may not be considered in such (charging) decisions. Pirro should be free to make her own decisions based on facts, independent from White House interference. That's what it means to live in a democracy that upholds the rule of law."

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The DOJ just blew up its own Reflecting Pool case — again

President Donald Trump’s attempt to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has spiraled into an embarrassing debacle that refuses to die. In the latest twist, the Department of Justice seems to have yet again blown its own case against former Olympian David Hearn, who was arrested on charges of vandalizing the pool.

“In a new filing,” posted All Rise News editor-in-chief Adam Klasfeld on Wednesday, “Trump DOJ reveals that there's an NPS email showing peeling due to overspray in the section of the pool relevant to the David Hearn case. It's dated June 11, more than a week before Hearn's arrest.”

Klasfeld attached a screenshot from the DOJ filing, which reads, “The email detailed that the ‘contractor stated that the peeled area was “overspray” from spraying the perimeter joint with polyurea.’ The engineer stated his ‘concern that this “overspray” along the perimeter of the pool could lead to a 1’-2’ strip that is vulnerable to peeling.’ The engineer also stated ‘[t]he polyurea liner that has peeled does not float in water, so should not be highly visible to visitors and can be vacuumed out along with sediment and algae during the normal cleaning process.’ These statements cast significant doubt that the defendant caused damage to the lining. This information — that the piece of liner peeled by the defendant was overspray, of little or no value — was first furnished to the prosecutors weeks after the grand jury indicted the defendant.”

In other words, the DOJ’s own evidence proves the damage had nothing to do with Hearn. According to Klasfeld, “Prosecutors say that the files showing the earlier peeling ‘sabotage’ their ability to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt — but also (absurdly) claim that ‘newly discovered evidence’ could rehabilitate the case later.” What’s more, he adds, “They still want dismissal without prejudice, even though their case is gutted.”

Earlier this month, Hearn’s defense team filed a motion to have the charges dismissed “with prejudice” following U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s humiliating admission that the case was groundless. Pirro requested dismissal after documentation from an Interior Department investigation contradicted the prosecution’s claims, and the motion to grant the dismissal “with prejudice” was submitted by the defense out of concerns that Trump could attempt to come after Hearn again.

It has since come out that Trump has in fact requested further charges against Hearn. While the prosecution is now arguing that the case should be dismissed without prejudice in case new evidence comes to light later, Trump’s demand for more action against Hearn supports the defense’s assertion that the case was “motivated by political considerations” and that there was a high ongoing “risk of harassment and bad faith” on the part of the president.

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Trump’s DOJ meddling threw him under the bus 'he himself was driving'

A series of President Donald Trump’s latest attempts to “meddle” in the Department of Justice have backfired, not only torpedoing his own cases, but causing major problems for his administration. This is according to New York Times legal analyst Alan Feuer, who wrote on Monday how, immediately upon returning to office, Trump “muscled his way into the driver’s seat at the Justice Department, leaving tread marks on its time-honored independence from the White House by demanding, and sometimes directing, investigations into his enemies. But his tight grip on the steering wheel has often threatened to lead the department off a cliff.”

As Feuer explains, the past week has offered perfect examples of how Trump’s attempts to weaponize the DOJ have blown up in his face. Trump’s meddling “imperiled one criminal case, set the stage for sanctions in a second and gummed up the chances that his pick for attorney general will be confirmed by the Senate.”

Feuer says that Trump’s latest batch of DOJ problems began last week, when court documents in the case against former FBI Director James Comey — who is accused of threatening Trump’s assassination by posting a photo of seashells spelling out “86-47” — revealed that the president had orchestrated a plot with the Secret Service to track Comey’s phone in a way that was “legally questionable.” Trump had been following the effort to surveil Comey from Air Force One, and wanted to use the Secret Service agents’ notes in a media appearance later that night.

“The request for the notes was a shocking breach of the distance that most presidents have kept from the day-to-day oversight of criminal investigations and indicated the intensity of Mr. Trump’s personal involvement in the pursuit of Mr. Comey, one of his most reviled political adversaries,” writes Feuer. “But his insistence on interfering with the case could come back to haunt him. After all, Mr. Comey’s lawyers pointed to the episode as evidence that the Justice Department had indicted him — on charges of making threats against the president — only as an act of retribution. If that claim is proven true, it would result in the case being dismissed.”

Trump’s meddling may have also sunk his case against former Olympian David Hearn, who is accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool during the renovation debacle earlier in the summer. On Friday, however, the case fell apart “in a spectacular fashion” when U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro — an avid Trump loyalist — “in a court filing, suddenly acknowledged that new information from Mr. Trump’s Interior Department had made her realize that shoddy construction, not anything that Mr. Hearn had done, caused the problems with the pool’s lining.”

“But even that confession did not stop Mr. Trump from doubling down on the vandalism narrative,” writes Feuer. “On Saturday morning, he posted a message on social media saying that he disagreed entirely with Ms. Pirro, a veteran prosecutor and a friend of his for more than 40 years. ‘I don’t know what she was thinking?’ Mr. Trump wrote. While Mr. Hearn's lawyers have not disclosed what they might do next, the case’s collapse gives them an opening to argue that the president’s stubborn statements about the matter suggest the prosecution was vexatious, frivolous or brought in bad faith.”

What’s more, explains Feuer, “The president’s inability to keep his hands to himself also affected another important bit of business at the Justice Department: the effort to confirm Todd Blanche, Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer, as attorney general.”

By last week, Blanche seemed to have removed the key obstacle to his appointment: appeasing Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), who were blocking his confirmation due to his unwillingness to commit to ending Trump’s “slush fund” in writing. But according to Feuer, “As the weekend neared, the president seemed to throw Mr. Blanche under the bus that he himself was driving, issuing a series of confusing and contradictory messages.”

Trump suddenly announced that he would withdraw Blanche’s nomination for confirmation and wait until the two lame duck senators left office, repeating his support for creating the fund, which Blanche had just claimed was dead. The next day, he threatened to revive the fund if Blanche wasn’t confirmed. Tillis was “baffled and dispirited” by all of this, saying, “It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal."

While by Sunday, there appeared to have been a breakthrough that will allow Blanche’s confirmation, owing to what he described as “good faith discussions” with senators, “as of Monday morning, Mr. Trump had not yet weighed in on the plan,” which could very well still be torpedoed by the president’s meddling.

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Demands grow for facts on how Trump's Reflecting Pool lie was 'cooked up'

On Tuesday, following the dramatic collapse of President Donald Trump’s case against Olympian David Hearn and others accused of vandalising the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, top Senate Democrats on two committees that oversee the Interior Department demanded that the agency’s inspector general investigate how the vandalism lie was “cooked up” in the first place.

According to exclusive reporting by the Washington Post, “The Interior Department had publicly blamed damage to the pool’s new liner on ‘vandals,’ a claim echoed by Trump and prosecutors who pressed charges against several people. The Justice Department on Friday said that Interior officials did not share relevant internal information that indicated the problems were due to contractors’ mistakes and has dropped the cases.” Now Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) of the Environment and Public Works and the Energy and Natural Resources committees, respectively, called for an “immediate investigation” into whether Interior Department officials misled the president about the cause of the damage.

“Numerous questions remain: How was the vandalism lie cooked up? How did it get to President Trump’s desk? Or did it originate from the White House?” Whitehouse and Heinrich wrote to the inspector general’s office. In the letter, they demand to know “what employees of the Department of the Interior knew — and when they knew it — regarding the peeling of the coating and other engineering issues at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.” While Trump had been vocal about his demands for the prosecution of Hearn and others accused of vandalism, the Senators noted that the Interior’s own documentation acknowledged the damage was caused by “a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling of the lining throughout.”

As the letter mentions, Trump has repeatedly declared that vandals had cut a 250-foot-gash — at times increasing that number to 350 feet — using a “very sharp knife or razors," even though the drained pool later showed no evidence of this. And even after the Department of Justice found that the Interior knew the damage was caused by faulty installation, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum continued to push Trump’s already debunked claim, tweeting, “The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool.”

According to the Post, “A spokesman for the inspector general declined to comment on the letter. The inspector general, which is intended to be an independent watchdog of the agency’s actions, is not bound to open an investigation.”

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White House agenda in meltdown as Trump drifts 'further from reality'

On Tuesday, a conservative journalist offered a stark assessment of President Donald Trump’s recent behavior, writing that the Commander in Chief has “drifted further from reality.” What’s more, the White House agenda has been thrown into increasing chaos as a growing number of people “wake up” to his lies.

This is according to Bulwark contributor Andrew Egger, who writes, “It’s been stranger than usual, watching Donald Trump operate this week. The president has long lived on a different planet from the rest of us — a world defined by his own personal information bubble of yes-men and online fans shouting his praises. But it’s rarely been so clear just how far Trump’s planet is from our reality.”

Egger notes the example of the war with Iran, explaining, “To hear the president tell it, America is forever on the verge of total victory. He is perpetually giving the mullahs one last, last, last chance to surrender before he turns their country into a parking lot — then inventing some pretext to call off the attack, pretending Iran has waved some secret white flag and is ready to make a deal.” But after several such cycles, “Iran is barely bothering even to participate in this charade.”

Trump did it again over the weekend, threatening to bomb Iran using “Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” before calling it off with claims that a deal had been struck that would open the Strait of Hormuz and end the Iranian nuclear program. As Egger writes, “We’ve seen this movie before: What Trump is describing is essentially the memorandum of understanding that he signed back in June, which has been out of force for weeks. This time, however, his assertions are even more fanciful: No such deal exists, and no talks are ongoing.” Iran said as much, which “led to another tantrum from Trump, who called Iran ‘unbelievably duplicitous’ in a post yesterday, but declined to resume his threats of devastating military action.”

Egger also raises the example of Trump’s Reflecting Pool debacle, which blew up in U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s face over the past week. As Egger explains, “After contriving a government-wide effort to lie that the pool’s lining had been damaged by vandals, including ex-Olympian David Hearn, the administration quietly dropped the charges and admitted what had been obvious all along: The lining had been faultily installed. But this was not obvious to everyone. Donald Trump spent yesterday spinning up a totally different tale: that Hearn was guilty, that a hostile judge in the case had been ‘really vicious,’ and that his handpicked D.C. prosecutor had simply wilted under the pressure. Pirro ‘choked,’ he complained to reporters. She had ‘folded like an umbrella.’”

“Pirro could never have done anything else,” notes Egger. “She wasn’t going to risk getting herself disbarred over hallucinated damage to the Reflecting Pool. But her position in the White House now dangles by a thread. Trump dressed her down in a phone call Saturday, then summoned her to the White House yesterday evening for more recriminations. Whether Pirro will survive the trip back to our planet remains to be seen.”

“Every time you look, Trump seems to have drifted further from our reality,” writes Egger. “His poll numbers have never been worse, but don’t try to tell him that: ‘My REAL Polling Numbers,’ he insisted yesterday, ‘are the best they have ever been.’” Egger goes on to list a litany of examples from the different reality on “Trump’s planet:” the constant AI slop posts, reposts of articles from March declaring how well the war is going, lying brags about his golf game, and more.

“Trump has spent a decade trying to drag us along the path of his own suspended reality,” Egger concludes, “but something has snapped; the real world has moved back onto its own course. Trump’s planet — where America is the hottest country in the world, Iran has been brought to its knees, vandals who destroyed the Reflecting Pool will be brought to justice, and he is extraordinarily popular and oh so good at golf — is so far from Earth it can no longer be seen with the naked eye. And as more and more people begin to wake up to this fact, the president is making no effort to reverse thrust. Already his world cannot be seen except through our most powerful telescopes; soon we may be unable to see him at all.”

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Trump Reflecting Pool lawyers just blew up their own case

Evidence presented by government prosecutors arguing against Olympian David Hearn, who stands accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, may have already blown the case. According to Lawfare senior editor Roger Parloff, evidence contained in the government’s original warrant provides obvious, photographic proof that he could not have vandalized the pool.

As Parloff posted on Wednesday, “Attys for Reflecting Pool defendant David Hearn say govt witness told govt that photos Hearn took showing damaged liner (published in WaPo, e.g.) were taken *before* he touched the water — drawing into question how he could’ve damaged it.” Parloff wrote this over a screenshot of one of the photos, which a caption says was taken just before his arrest and shows a partially detached piece of the pool liner.

So a government witness has already noted that the pictures were taken before he touched the water, and what’s more, writes Parloff, the government’s own seizure warrant for Hearn’s phone “admits that Hearn’s photos were taken before the touching.”

“In other words,” argues the defense, “Mr Hearn’s widely published photo proves that he caused no damage to the Reflecting Pool.”

This is a humiliating turn for President Donald Trump, who raged about the prosecution of alleged Reflecting Pool “vandals” who he claims caused tears in the pool liner and blooms of algae, despite providing no evidence. According to the Associated Press, “Hearn has said he reached inside the pool to examine the peeled sealant and let go of a chunk when he was told to by a park worker. He is accused of causing more than $1,000 in damage.”

“Every American should be alarmed about this prosecution,” said Hearn’s attorney after he pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Thursday. “It is not a crime to touch the Reflecting Pool.”

At the hearing, which the AP says was “packed” with spectators, “D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean did not require Hearn to be supervised by the court while he is free awaiting a trial. A status hearing was scheduled for Aug. 5. A prosecutor, Kevin Reddington, said the government wasn’t seeking any court supervision for Hearn, but just a ‘stay-away order’ without specifying in court where it wanted to keep Hearn away from. Mary Dohrmann, one of Hearn’s attorneys, urged the judge not to impose any conditions of court supervision, calling Hearn an ‘upstanding citizen and member of the community.’”

“The government’s evidence is weak,” she added.

Hearn’s attorneys have argued that the case is based on a “concocted narrative,” asserting that “this indictment reflects the administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures. The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover.”

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