Judge dismisses David Hearn’s Reflecting Pool indictment, but a crucial legal question remains

Jeanine Pirro moved to drop the case “without prejudice,” which would give her the right to revive it. The defense wants a dismissal “with prejudice.”

A D.C. judge on Thursday afternoon dismissed the Lincoln Reflecting Pool vandalism case against U.S. Olympian David Hearn.

The move ends the criminal case for David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, after prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.

Associate Judge Todd Edelman said he would wait to determine whether to grant the dismissal with prejudice after hearing more arguments.

A local judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday formally dismissed the felony charge accusing Olympic canoeist David Hearn of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro backed away from the case.  D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman will decide later whether prosecutors can try

On-the-ground views of the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are obscured by a chain-link fence covered in fabric

Kylie Cooper / REUTERS President Donald Trump’s crusade against the purported Reflecting Pool vandals has been hit with a humiliating roadblock. The office of Jeanine Pirro, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has dropped charges against three other individuals previously accused of destroyi

Atty for Ex-Olympian speaks out after Reflecting Pool vandalism case dropped  CNN

President Donald Trump says US Attorney Jeanine Pirro “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” in moving to drop charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalising the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Trump says Pirro ‘choked’ and ‘folded like an umbrella’  AP News

The president also said Monday that he did not know the contractor who did the work on the pool.

Trump says Pirro ‘folded like an umbrella’ in bid to drop Reflecting Pool vandalism charges  Toronto Star

“I was disappointed in Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed in Jeanine Pirro,” he added. “She folded like an umbrella.”

Federal prosecutors moved to drop their case against David Hearn, blaming Reflecting Pool damage on a "botched installation" rather than vandalism. That has implications for others who were charged.

President Donald Trump said Monday that U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro “choked” in deciding to dismiss the indictment of a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “I think she choked because the judge was really vicious,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Of

The Department of Justice’s move to dismiss its criminal case against Olympian David Hearn exposed just how bad things have gotten inside the Trump administration. In a new episode of his Justice Matters podcast, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner argued that the DOJ’s motion to dismiss revealed just how shoddy

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is now drained of water and awaiting repairs, as a feud within the Trump administration spills into the open. President Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are both rejecting the conclusion by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro that contractors caused the pool to peel. Olivia Rinaldi

Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro "was right to pull back" the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism charge against a former Olympian.