Scott Jennings Says Man Prosecuted by Jeanine Pirro Should Sue Trump Administration: ‘They Dragged This Guy’s Name Through the Mud’
Republican strategist Scott Jennings said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro made the Trump administration look foolish by prosecuting a man she claimed damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He even went as far as to say the man should take legal action.
On Friday, Pirro’s office moved to drop a felony charge against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoe slalomist. Earlier this month, Hearn was charged with one felony count of destruction of property. In a press conference announcing the charge, Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, emphatically stated that the government could prove that Hearn damaged the pool by ripping up the lining. Hearn pleaded not guilty.
At the time, the pool, which has been undergoing renovations ordered by President Donald Trump, was enduring algae blooms and its lining had begun peeling off. Some onlookers reportedly took pieces of the damaged lining as souvenirs. Trump blamed vandals for the issues.
In her filing on Friday, Pirro said it was moving to drop the charge after her office found out from the Department of the Interior that the damage to the pool was due to a botched installation. The filing blamed Interior for her aborted prosecution in what one CNN legal analyst called “a true embarrassment for Jeanine Pirro.”
Hours later, Jennings appeared on The Source, where guest host Erica Hill asked him if the Department of Justice jumped the gun.
“Do you have any concerns about a rush to judgment from this DOJ?” she inquired.
Jennings replied:
Yeah, of course. I mean, on this one, the administration looks like a monkey having intimate relations with a football. It looks terrible. And, you know, after everything that was said, this guy, he is owed an apology. And I don’t know what the procedures are for it, but he ought to sue anybody that he thinks he can to get his name back. I have a strong reaction, to be honest with you, when people have their name dragged through the mud. And that’s obviously what happened here. So, I’m glad the charges got dropped. But they don’t have evidence. They shouldn’t be trying to go to trial. So, that’s good that they admitted it. They dragged this guy’s name through the mud.
The Reflecting Pool was renovated by Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia-based company that the Trump administration awarded a $13.1 million no-bid contract for the project.
Meanwhile, the pool’s new water purification system was installed via another no-bid contract by Greenwater Services, which is owned by J.J. Cafaro Trust, headed by John J. Cafaro. In 2001, Cafaro pleaded guilty to bribing a congressman, whom he later testified against.
Watch above via CNN.
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