Trump blasts Pirro after she refutes his claim that Reflecting Pool was
damaged by vandals
[August 03, 2026]
By AAMER MADHANI and MATTHEW DALY
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday sharply criticized
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's assessment that damage to the Lincoln
Memorial Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction and not
the work of vandals, as he claims.
Pirro’s office, in a court filing on Friday, moved to drop criminal
charges against a former Olympian, David Hearn, who had been accused of
deliberately damaging the pool after it underwent a renovation ahead of
the nation’s 250th birthday celebration last month.
Trump, in a posting on social media, acknowledged that there “may have
been some contractor difficulty” in the installation of a new pool
liner. But he continues to insist “the major damage was caused by
VANDALS!”
“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District
of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool,” Trump added in his post.
The dismissal was an embarrassing setback for a Justice Department that
had previously echoed Trump's claims and billed the prosecution as
accountability for damage at a Washington landmark, a pet project of
Trump. Pirro's decision to drop the case is also a rare moment during
Trump's second term of an aide or political appointee openly defying
him.
The president, without providing any clear new evidence, continued to
allege on Saturday that the majority of the damage to the pool was
caused by vandals.
Government lawyers in their 20-page court filing on Friday said that
additional documents provided by the Interior Department since the
indictment of Hearn show that the damage was the result of a botched
installation by a contractor as well as “the rush to complete the
project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in
the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.”
In addition, a recent visual inspection revealed damage throughout the
pool, including in the middle — where prosecutors say a vandal would not
likely have attempted to peel the lining.
Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was accused of pulling up a two-foot
square piece of the pool’s lining.
“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to
attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let
alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” Pirro, a Trump
appointee, said in her filing, which asked a judge to formally dismiss
the case.
Pirro in the court filing also blamed the Interior Department for
providing “less than fulsome information at the outset of the case.”
The filing added that had “DOI been forthcoming with the information
clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand
jury indictment.” It was a jarring turn in position from Pirro, who
claimed the government's case was built on “tremendous evidence” when
she announced the indictment against Hearn last month.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in a posting on X appeared to push back
against Pirro's criticism, claiming some of the acts of vandalism were
captured on video.
“We also provided the U.S. Attorney’s office expert and eyewitness
testimony to the damage done by vandals and provided every piece of
evidence they asked for in the requested time line detailing each area
of damage at the pool,” Burgum added.
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The Washington Monument is seen in the background of the now drained
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Hearn's legal team on Saturday criticized both Trump and Pirro and
said it was weighing "legal remedies” on behalf of their client.
“Trump is mad at Pirro because she finally admitted what we made
clear in our legal filings all along: Trump’s botched renovation was
responsible for the damage — not Davey Hearn," the legal team said
in a statement. “However, her claim that she and her office were
previously duped by Interior is nonsense. Starting immediately after
the arraignment, our motions repeatedly proved that the
administration was to blame for the Reflecting Pool failures, not
Davey.”
Trump on Saturday also posted a nearly four-minute video that
appears to have been taken from a security camera, in which three
individuals can be seen with their hands in the pool, including one
for an extended period.
The president claimed the video shows “material is being cut with a
knife or a box cutter, for all to see!”
It's not clear from the video, which appears to be shot from some
distance, that any vandalism occurred. Workers can also be seen
standing nearby and don’t appear to notice the people sticking their
hands in the water.
In May, Trump announced plans to beautify the Reflecting Pool this
spring. Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded a
$14.7 million no-bid contract to repaint and waterproof the pool’s
concrete floor.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings did not respond to requests for
comment.
Water was drained and Trump directed that the bottom be painted with
what he called “American flag blue.”
But problems emerged within days of the project's completion, with
chunks of the new liner peeling off.
Trump was quick to blame vandals. And the National Park Service
reported to the U.S. Park Police a June 9 incident in which it
claimed a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner.
The work on the Reflecting Pool is just one of a number of projects
Trump has spearheaded across the nation’s capital. Most prominently,
he demolished the White House’s East Wing to build a $400 million
ballroom and plans to build a towering arch between the Lincoln
Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
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