US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on July 23, 2026. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Pool via REUTERS
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."
