Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., dropped criminal charges against three remaining people accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, days after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office abandoned a felony case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn.
The dismissals came the same week that President Donald Trump publicly criticized Pirro’s decision to drop the Hearn case and continued to insist that vandals, rather than faulty construction, were responsible for most of the damage at the newly renovated landmark.
According to court filings, the remaining cases involved Justin Carreno, Sophie Dennison-Gibby, and Cameron Thiers, and the cases are now marked as “closed” on the D.C. Superior Court’s webpage. The three defendants had each faced misdemeanor accusations of destroying property valued at less than $1,000. Prosecutors moved to dismiss all three cases after reviewing evidence related to the Reflecting Pool damage.
Pirro’s office had already moved Friday to dismiss its felony case against Hearn, a Maryland resident and former Olympic canoeist who represented the United States at three Summer Games from 1992 through 2000. Hearn had pleaded not guilty after prosecutors accused him of forcefully and violently ripping portions of the renovated pool floor.
In the motion to dismiss, prosecutors said evidence made available by the Interior Department showed the damage was caused by a “rushed and flawed installation” involving the pool lining. Prosecutors also blamed Interior officials for withholding critical information that they said was not turned over until after they had secured Hearn’s indictment from a grand jury.
Amid a Monday report from CNN about speculation that Trump considered removing Pirro from her post over the dismissed case, she reportedly brought that evidence directly to the White House that afternoon. She carried with her a large white box and other bags containing Interior Department material that prosecutors believed exculpated Hearn and the other defendants. Sources familiar with the matter told CBS News on Tuesday that Pirro used the evidence during a sometimes heated private Oval Office meeting with Trump, who had publicly rebuked her hours earlier.
Prior to her arrival, Trump said Monday that Pirro had “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” by dropping the Hearn case. He said he was “really disappointed” by the decision, although he acknowledged there “may have been some contractor difficulty.”
“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro … on the Reflecting Pool,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after the Hearn case was dismissed. “To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.”
Asked about the dismissal of the three remaining misdemeanor cases, the White House on Tuesday referred the Washington Examiner to the president’s remarks in the Oval Office the previous day. A spokesman for Pirro’s office did not respond to repeated attempts to seek comment.
Trump has maintained that vandals were responsible for most of the damage. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum backed that assertion, writing on X that his agency had shared expert and eyewitness testimony and “every piece of evidence they asked for” detailing damage at the pool.
TRUMP SAYS JEANINE PIRRO ‘CHOKED’ IN REFLECTING POOL VANDALISM CASE: ‘FOLDED LIKE AN UMBRELLA’
The cases have already carried consequences for those charged. The Washington Post reported that Carreno was fired from his job as a government contractor because of the case. His attorney told CBS that the government had “literally fabricated a crime” and said Carreno was exploring legal options after losing his job and moving homes.
Dennison-Gibby’s attorney told USA Today that his client was relieved by the dismissal but had previously been terrified after Trump publicly referred to the defendants as “sick people who faced jail time.”
