President Donald Trump said on August 3, 2026, that he is thinking about removing Jeanine Pirro from her job as the top federal prosecutor in Washington, DC. The reason: her office dropped charges against a former Olympic canoeist and others who had been accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump told reporters that Pirro had "folded like an umbrella" and "choked because the judge was really vicious." He appeared to be referring to DC Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman, who is overseeing the case (The Guardian).

The case started when David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was one of seven people charged with damaging the recently renovated Reflecting Pool. Hearn faced a serious criminal charge that could have meant up to 10 years in prison and a $1,000 fine. He said he was not guilty in July 2026. Then, on July 31, the Justice Department dropped the case against Hearn and the other defendants (NPR; The Guardian).

Why did they drop it? Evidence showed the pool liner was already damaged before Hearn ever entered the water on June 19, 2026. The Justice Department said the damage was "the result of flawed installation by the contractor" — the company hired to build or fix the pool did a bad job. Pirro said her office only received documents showing this pre-existing damage after charges had already been filed. Government lawyers described a rushed and sloppy installation process, with the pool lining failing repeatedly and peeling all over the Reflecting Pool. Pirro's office said it did not realize the damage came from a botched installation until those documents arrived (The Guardian).

Trump rejected that explanation completely. On Truth Social over the weekend, he wrote: "I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don't know what she was thinking?" He posted again: "To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM." On August 3, he repeated those criticisms to reporters in person (The Guardian).

A senior official told CNN that Trump was "blindsided" — he had no warning that Pirro planned to drop the charges. Someone familiar with the situation separately told CNN that Trump is "furious" with Pirro and that they think it is "highly likely she's removed from her job." When a reporter asked Trump whether he was reconsidering Pirro's role, he replied: "You're fake news. Don't ever talk again" (WTOP; The Guardian).

Pirro has been a Trump ally for years. He nominated her as the interim US attorney for DC in 2025, and the Senate confirmed her that August. Now she is publicly at odds with the president who put her in the job. Politico said her office "abandoned" the charges, describing the situation as a break between Trump and someone previously seen as a loyal supporter (Politico). Visitors to the Reflecting Pool had called the charges against Hearn "ridiculous," according to USA Today (USA Today.

The broader context here is that Trump has often pushed the Justice Department to make decisions that match what he wants politically. The DC prosecutor's office handles especially sensitive cases involving national security and issues that draw national attention. Pirro dropped the charges because documents showed the damage came from the contractor, not from the people who were charged. Trump responded by publicly threatening to remove her. That tension — between a prosecutor following the evidence and a president wanting a particular outcome — is not new. Whether Trump actually tries to fire Pirro, and whether a Senate-confirmed prosecutor can be removed without a stated reason, are questions that will shape what happens next.