Trump rages at former TV host Jeanine Pirro as prosecutor says Reflecting Pool was damaged by botched renovation
The President accused Jeanine Pirro of having 'choked' after she dropped the vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn
Donald Trump has slammed his own US Attorney for D.C. after she dropped the prosecution of a former Olympian charged with damaging the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
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Former TV host and Trump ally Jeanine Pirro admitted in court filings that the Reflecting Pool's damage was caused by a botched installation during the President's renovation.
One-time Olympian David Hearn, 67, had been accused of vandalising the pool before Pirro dropped the case.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, the President reiterated that he believes Hearn had vandalised the pool - rather than accepting it was his renovation that damaged the Washington DC landmark.
He accused Pirro of having "choked" while speaking to reporters.
The President had posted this weekend that he disagrees "100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool".
In a post on his Truth Social platform. "I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM."
The renovated pool had quickly developed blooms of algae that tinted the water green, while pieces of the blue lining had peeled off.
Trump, facing criticism over the $14.7 million renovation, had repeatedly blamed the problems on vandals he alleged had intentionally sabotaged the project.
In their filing on Friday, federal prosecutors said the latest documents they received from the Department of the Interior "indicated a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling of the lining throughout the Reflecting Pool."
Trump suggested that prosecutors overstated the effects of a bad installation. "There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!" he wrote on Saturday.
In a subsequent social media post, Trump included a previously released U.S. Park Police video that he claimed showed vandals at the site while workers were in the pool removing algae.
"Look for yourselves at the VANDALISM that took place at The Reflecting Pool," he wrote, although it is not clear in the clip whether people are merely reaching into the water to remove pieces that were already peeling.
Pirro's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.