Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has filed a motion to drop the charges against former Olympic athlete, David Hearn, for vandalizing the reflecting pool. This in itself is not a surprise. It was obvious to everyone (except maybe Fox News and MAGA cultists) that the charges were Trumped up, and I do mean Trumped up.
What is somewhat surprising is that the government’s motion admits that Trump’s no-bid contractor “botched” the work, and the motion blames the Department of Interior (“DOI”) for providing misinformation about the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s office (“USAO-DC”). The motion states that “the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by DOI. Indeed, USAO-DC could only rely on the information provided by DOI that the damage was entirely caused by vandals, including the defendant in this case.” Govt’s Mot. to Dismiss Indictment, at 1. The motion goes on to provide detailed evidence and “new information” about the botched installation job.
I practiced law a rather long time in D.C., and I participated in quite a few administrative law cases. I don’t recall another instance in which an arm of DOJ called out another Department or Agency of the United States in such terms. After all, main Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices typically view the other Executive branch agencies as their clients. But the novelty of the filing aside, the U.S. Attorney’s filing misses the mark in two important respects.
First, it utterly deflects any blame from itself. Ms. Pirro’s self-serving filing sidesteps the fact that her office sought the indictment against Mr. Hearn in the face of widespread doubt that Mr. Hearn and other alleged pool vandals were responsible for any of the damage that was clearly apparent almost as soon as the reflecting pool work was completed. In fact, the very idea that such vandalism occurred was widely ridiculed, including on this blog, because of the lack of corroborating evidence, such as videos. In light of the substantial grounds for questioning the vandalism allegations, the U.S. Attorney’s office should not have rushed to secure indictments without first considering alternative explanations for the damage to the reflecting pool liner, especially because there was information readily available to explain the damage, either before the indictments were brought or soon after.
Second, Ms. Pirro, not surprisingly, fails to lodge the blame for the faulty indictments on the chief actor responsible for the rush to judgment: Donald Trump. Why did the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Attorney’s office jump to the far-fetched vandalism theory? Because of Trump. He couldn’t face the fact that he–the master builder–totally screwed up by giving out a no-bid contract to an entity that wasn’t up to the task, and by imposing unreasonable time requirements on the job.
So, as authoritarians often do, he sought scapegoats. That doing so would ruin lives meant nothing to him. He’s a narcissistic psychopath, after all–and a demented one, to boot. But of course, he was aided and abetted by the Department of the Interior and his personal law firm, the Department of Justice (to which the U.S. Attorney’s offices belong).
Of course, the Ms. Pirro’s filing marks a remarkably direct rejection of the President’s claims, a rejection that perhaps prompts some questions about Trump’s continued hold on his unprecedented power (at least at the moment). We’ll have to see about that. I, of course, am skeptical.
But we can hope that perhaps there will be occasions when agencies push back against Trump’s vendettas and scapegoating before, rather than after, lives are needlessly upended. And maybe then we’ll actually see a return to our democratic norms, and even a meaningful disclosure of the Epstein files.
Addendum: Now, Trump is attacking Pirro for dropping the charges against Hearn, insisting that vandals were responsible for the bulk of the damage to the reflecting pool liner. “There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!” according to Trump. Trump also whined, ““I don’t know what she was thinking?” “To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.”
Yes, Mr. Trump, to you it was a “pure case of VANDALISM,” but here in the place we call “Reality,” it was a case of pure you-screwed-up-again-because-you’re-addled-and-incompetent.
As for what Ms. Pirro was thinking, I’ve got a little tip for you: sometimes, you can find out what a lawyer was thinking–or at least, saying–by READING her motion, which is publicly available. It even has pictures, so it’s perfect for you. I am afraid it also has words, but I am sure there’s a pretty aide who would love the chance to read it to you, if it’s too difficult to do that yourself.
Every time you open your mouth, you make yet another compelling case for the 25th Amendment.