Donald Trump’s botched Reflecting Pool revamp has now become an ethics problem for his embattled MAGA prosecutor Jeanine Pirro.
Amid ongoing tension between Pirro and the president, a coalition of about 90 lawyers, retired judges and other prominent legal figures has filed a disciplinary complaint against the U.S. Attorney over her handling of the case, as well as seven other failed, politically charged prosecutions.
The 40-page complaint by Lawyers Defending American Democracy accuses Pirro of violating professional rules governing lawyers.
Regarding the Reflecting Pool, it points to her press conference on July 2, when she announced the charges and insisted that National Park employees saw Hearn “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner” of the pool.
In a lengthy tirade that day, the former Fox host also said that, “according to witnesses, Hearn damaged approximately two square feet of sealant from the bottom of the pool.”
And when reporters suggested that the damage to the pool may have been caused before Hearn’s actions, Pirro responded: “Oh, he damaged it … he damaged this pool.”
But by the end of the month, in a decision that enraged the president, she had dropped the case, admitting that the damage was due to a botched job from Trump’s own contractor, who rushed to finish before the president’s America 250 celebrations.
The complaint argues “there is no doubt that Ms. Pirro knew or should have known that these statements were deeply prejudicial to Mr. Hearn’s felony case because they are proscribed by the DOJ Justice Manual.
“These statements were deeply prejudicial because she not only failed to state that the felony indictment was merely an accusation and that he is presumed innocent until and unless he is proven guilty; she also gave an opinion as to his guilt,” it added.
The complaint was filed with the Attorney Grievance Committee for the Supreme Court of the State of New York, “seeking an investigation and appropriate discipline of Jeanine Pirro.”
While Pirro is the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, she is admitted to practice in the Third Appellate Division Department of New York, hence the complaint being issued in that state.
But it also highlights other botched prosecutions she has handled, including the acquittal of Subway sandwich thrower Sean Dunn; her failed probe into former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell; and a grand jury’s refusal to indict six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video telling troops they could refuse illegal orders.
The Daily Beast has reached out to her office but has not yet heard back. However, the ethics complaint comes at a sensitive time for Pirro, who Trump considered firing this month and accused of “choking” by dropping the charges against Hearn.
“I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro,” Trump fumed after the Hearn case was dismissed, declaring his MAGA prosecutor had “choked”.
“Really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. She folded like an umbrella.”
The Reflecting Pool revamp was meant to be finished in time for Trump’s America 250th celebrations on July 4, with Trump giving the job to a contractor who had helped repair a pool at his Virginia golf course.
But instead of creating a clean pool with an “American flag blue” surface, the landmark became an algae-infested mess, and in turn, a national embarrassment.
The White House is now pushing the Justice Department, led by newly sworn-in Attorney General Todd Blanche, to revive the discredited case.
The move is yet another attempt by the administration to blame vandalism for damaging one of the president’s most talked-up vanity projects, which has now ballooned from about $1.5 million to more than $15 million in costs.
But Hearn’s lawyers have lashed out at the White House and vowed to fight any attempt to revive the matter.
