Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated Wednesday that President Donald Trump retains the authority to fire any U.S. attorney, including Jeanine Pirro, the District of Columbia’s top federal prosecutor, following her decision to drop vandalism charges against an Olympic canoeist accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Blanche made the remarks during a Department of Justice press conference, responding to a question about whether Trump should retain Pirro after she declined to prosecute the case. Pirro had faced criticism from Trump, who alleged the Reflecting Pool was vandalized, despite conflicting accounts from federal engineers and the National Park Service. Trump has not yet indicated whether Pirro’s position is secure, but he previously called her decision a failure in a Monday Oval Office meeting.
Trump’s public and private responses to Pirro’s decision
Trump publicly criticized Pirro on Monday, stating she had “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” for dropping the charges against David Hearn, the former Olympian accused of damaging the Reflecting Pool. Pirro arrived at the White House later that day with a banker’s box of evidence to defend her decision, according to sources familiar with the meeting. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose agency oversees national parks, also attended the gathering, which sources described as “contentious.”
During the meeting, Pirro directly confronted Burgum, accusing him of misleading Trump about the evidence in the case, sources said. Privately, National Park Service engineers attributed the damage to a private contractor who performed work under a no-bid contract, contradicting Trump’s public claims of vandalism. Trump has long maintained the pool was intentionally damaged, citing what he described as witness and video evidence, though no such footage has been publicly verified.
Blanche’s remarks and the independence of U.S. attorneys
Blanche’s comments at the press conference underscored the president’s constitutional authority to remove U.S. attorneys, a power that has been exercised by previous administrations. He did not explicitly endorse Pirro’s decision or Trump’s criticism of her, instead framing the issue as a matter of executive prerogative.
The standoff highlights tensions between Trump’s expectations for federal prosecutions and the discretion traditionally afforded to U.S. attorneys. Pirro’s case has become a flashpoint in broader debates over prosecutorial independence and the influence of political leaders on federal law enforcement decisions.
Background: The Reflecting Pool vandalism case
The charges against Hearn were dropped after Pirro determined there was insufficient evidence to proceed. The case stemmed from an incident in which the Reflecting Pool, a prominent national monument, was allegedly damaged. Federal engineers later attributed the damage to construction work by a private contractor, raising questions about the accuracy of initial reports that suggested vandalism.
The dispute has drawn attention to procedural disagreements between the Department of Justice, the National Park Service, and the White House, as well as the potential consequences of political pressure on prosecutorial decisions.