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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday deferred questions regarding the future of Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, to President Trump, saying, “That’s his call.”
Blanche, who once was Trump’s personal attorney, told reporters that “Judge Pirro is doing a great job,” a day after the president said he hadn’t “made a determination” on the U.S. attorney’s future. The acting attorney general spoke to reporters less than a week after the Justice Department dropped charges against the Olympian accused of destroying the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
At the time, Pirro, who announced the Justice Department’s decision, said “overspraying and delamination” — not the alleged vandalism — damaged the Reflecting Pool.
“If President Trump wanted to fire anybody within his administration, he understands he has the power to do that. So, when he makes a decision about whether to fire a U.S. attorney or anybody else, that’s his call,” Blanche said.
Blanche said he believes Pirro’s office is “doing a phenomenal job,” referring back to work the former Fox News host has conducted since the beginning of her tenure and comparing her office’s work to previous offices.
“Now, does that mean that every case goes exactly the way that President Trump, or I, or U.S. Attorney Pirro wants? I mean, of course not. It doesn’t,” Blanche added.
Trump said Pirro “choked” after failing to prosecute four people, including Olympic canoeist David Hearn, for alleged vandalism to the Reflecting Pool after the pool was closed to allow for renovations spearheaded by the president.
“Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, appearing to refer to Todd Edelman, the District of Columbia’s superior court judge.
“I don’t know what the hell happened,” the president added.
After dropping charges against Hearn, prosecutors filed a nolle prosequi on Monday, meaning they are no longer looking to press charges against Cameron Theirs, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno — three other people previously accused by Pirro and her office of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. All had pleaded not guilty.
Dropping the cases has left Pirro’s future in question, as Trump has persisted in claiming the damage to the Reflecting Pool was the result of vandalism. Pirro’s office cast blame back on the Interior Department for not being forthcoming with information at the outset of the case, a claim that Hearn’s attorney Norm Eisen called “nonsense.”
Trump met with Pirro and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum after the president vented about the situation to reporters, but it is unclear what followed after the meeting.
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