In what might be the most dramatic saga ever involving a decorative body of water, President Trump has decided NOT to fire U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro over her handling of the Great Reflecting Pool Caper. He does, however, want everyone to know she really blew it.
As Conservative Brief reported, Trump told NBC News in a phone interview Thursday that the former Fox News personality and New York judge committed "a big mistake" when her office dropped charges against David Hearn, a former Olympic paddler who was accused of ripping up part of the pool's liner. The charges could have landed Hearn behind bars for a decade. Ten years! For pulling at loose pool lining! That is some serious sentencing energy for what turned out to be a contractor's shoddy work.
When a reporter asked point blank whether Pirro would get the boot, Trump responded that making a terrible decision "doesn't mean change." So basically, she is on political probation. The presidential equivalent of "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed."
Here is where it gets truly delicious. Pirro's own court filings stated that the pool damage came from a botched installation by a contractor, not from any intentional act of destruction. Her office literally told the court it would be nearly impossible to prove vandalism beyond a reasonable doubt. Meanwhile, Trump continued insisting there was "tremendous vandalism." Two people looking at the exact same peeling pool liner and arriving at completely opposite conclusions. Classic.
The real kicker in this whole story is the price tag. Trump originally said the renovation of the 2,030 foot Reflecting Pool could wrap up quickly for roughly $1.5 million, just in time for Fourth of July celebrations. Federal spending records now show the project ballooned to almost $14.7 million, with payments flowing to Atlantic Industrial Coatings LLC out of Virginia. That is roughly a 900% budget overrun, which honestly feels very on brand for government construction projects.
To make matters even more embarrassing, algae reportedly showed back up shortly after the fancy renovation was finished, and the new protective sealant started peeling off and floating around in the water. So we spent nearly $15 million on a pool that immediately started falling apart, then tried to send an Olympic athlete to prison for touching the evidence of that failure.
Pirro herself had originally gone after Hearn pretty aggressively, claiming he "woefully destroyed property" in a "deliberate act" by "forcefully and violently" yanking the liner. She later reversed course and blamed the Department of the Interior for giving her office incomplete information about the situation, which reportedly led to a heated confrontation in the Oval Office.
Hearn's legal team is now pushing for the case to be tossed with prejudice, meaning prosecutors could never bring these charges again. They point to the government's own admission that faulty installation caused the damage, plus Trump's ongoing public comments about vandalism, as reasons the whole thing should be permanently closed.
So to recap: a pool got a makeover that cost ten times the estimate, immediately fell apart, someone got blamed for the contractor's mess, and the prosecutor who dropped the charges got publicly scolded but kept her job. Only in Washington, folks.
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