JUST IN: Trump White House Asks DOJ To Consider New Charges in Reflecting Pool Case It Dropped

Rahmat Gul/AP Photo

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice threw in the towel in its attempt to prosecute David Hearn for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, but the White House is now asking them to try again, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal.

White House officials are now asking the DOJ to “consider a new prosecution” of Hearn, citing sources “familiar with the discussions,” the Journal reported.

Any attempt to bring new charges “would be highly unusual,” the article noted, because the U.S. Attorney Office for the District of Columbia, headed by Jeanine Pirro, already admitted it had relied on claims from the Department of the Interior that “the damage was caused entirely by vandals, including [Hearn].”

After the indictment, DOI then “provided additional documents” that revealed “the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by DOI,” Pirro’s office had said.

DOJ officials were actually “exploring whether another type of case—likely based on misdemeanor allegations—is even possible,” conducting “informal and preliminary” discussions internally, sources told the Journal.

Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was facing a felony charge for destruction of government property until Pirro’s office filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice at the end of last month.

In addition to dropping the felony charge against Hearn, Pirro’s office moved to dismiss three other misdemeanor cases charging people with similar accusations of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool.

Meanwhile, Trump has continued to rage about the dismissal of the cases, publicly lambasting Pirro and falsely claiming there is “video” evidence of the vandalism being committed.

The president’s attempts to renovate the Reflecting Pool have been a months-long source of frustration for him, as the project has been plagued by bright green algae and peeling paint, which Trump and others in his administration have claimed were caused by vandals. These claims were swiftly met with a high level of skepticism, but Trump’s Department of Justice made several arrests nonetheless, including Hearn.

The current status of the prosecution against Hearn is that the case has been officially dismissed by the court, with the parties set to appear at a hearing next month regarding whether or not the dismissal should be without prejudice, meaning Hearn can legally be charged again, or with prejudice.

In a scathing motion, Hearn’s attorneys sharply denounced the case as a “politically motivated prosecution” of their client that was “motivated by political considerations and devoid of adequate factual support,” and argued that the “risk of harassment and bad faith” was very real, the attorneys continued, because of how Trump and other administration officials had “publicly attacked” the dismissal of the case and the DOJ “has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to seek or reinstate criminal charges to satisfy the President, irrespective of the law or facts.”

Several legal commentators have observed that Pirro and others involved in the case could face disciplinary actions by the DC bar association if it is found that misrepresentations were made to the grand jury or to the court.

This is a breaking news story and has been updated.

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