Washington DC, United States, August 11 2025:US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro speaks during President Donald Trump press briefing to announce he is invoking the Home Act
CNN legal expert Elie Honig on Tuesday delivered a harsh assessment of U.S Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro after her office last week dropped vandalism charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn.
Hearn was originally indicted on one count of felony destruction of property in July after he allegedly touched paint pealing from the liner of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Pirro later admitted in her motion to dismiss the charge against Hearn that “the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism.” Misdemeanor charges against at least three others accused of damaging the pool were also dropped.
Trump on Monday told reporters in the Oval Office that Pirro “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” in the Reflecting Pool case.
Honig described the Reflecting Pool saga as a “perfect exhibit” of “Trump’s view of the Justice Department … that they are there to carry out his will.”
“Donald Trump doesn't have any particular facts or insight into this case more than what prosecutors would have with respect to the claim that Jeanine Pirro ‘folded like an umbrella,’” Honig said. “The thing that she really did is ultimately, far belatedly, do the right thing.”
“The problem is she charged this case without having the evidence,” Honig explained. “She oversold what this case was. And now Jeanine Pirro is trying to say, 'Well, the Department of Interior didn't tell us certain things.' I'm sorry, that's your job as a prosecutor. You don't get to charge someone, indict another person and then say, ‘Oops, I found out something later and that undermines my case.’ Your job is to take your time, investigate fully, get it right, and then indict. And here Jeanine Pirro did that backwards.”
“So I don't see it as her folding. I see her as her belatedly correcting an egregious mistake,” he added. “I don't think she should be forgiven for it, but it's better that she, quote, unquote folded than that she stuck with this ridiculous prosecution.”
Honig also said Hearn is a “textbook example” of someone who’s “been wronged by the federal government,” arguing the former Olympian could “absolutely” make a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act.”
“The government has now admitted they did not have the evidence to support this,” Honig said. “He obviously has sustained reputational harm. I'm sure he has sustained attorneys fees and other damages … That’s sort of how the system is supposed to work, and not to pay off, for example, January 6th rioters.”
