Driving the news: President Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday that he 'disagrees 100%' with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after her office moved to dismiss a felony destruction-of-property charge against former U.S. Olympian David Hearn, 67.
'I don't know what she was thinking?' Trump wrote. 'To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.'
What happened: Pirro and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence filed Friday to drop the case, citing newly discovered documents from the Department of the Interior showing 'a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling of the lining throughout the Reflecting Pool.'
Hearn was indicted July 2 for allegedly pulling up a loose section of the pool's protective lining on June 19 after being told by a National Park Service employee to stop.
By the numbers: The renovation cost $14.7 million. The pool developed algae blooms and peeling blue lining shortly after completion, rushed to finish for the America 250 celebrations.
Between the lines: Trump acknowledged 'some contractor difficulty' but insisted vandals caused the 'major damage' — referencing a separate incident in which '86 47,' a politically charged slogan directed at him, was etched into nearby grass.
The bottom line: A $14.7 million taxpayer-funded renovation that failed on delivery is an embarrassment no administration wants to own. Trump's instinct to pin blame on vandals is politically understandable — but his own prosecutors, after reviewing Interior Department records, concluded the evidence simply wasn't there. When the facts beat the frame, the facts win. The real question is who greenlit a rushed contracting job on one of America's most iconic landmarks.