Burgum, Trump still blame pool damage on vandals

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and President Trump are still attributing damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to vandals. According to CBS News, this comes after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro moved to drop charges against David Hearn, a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the pool.

The Associated Press reports that President Trump expressed disappointment and criticism towards Pirro's assessment that the damage was due to shoddy construction, not vandalism. Trump stated that Pirro "choked" and "folded like an umbrella" in her handling of the case.

The Hill notes that despite Pirro's court filing, Burgum has continued to claim that vandals were responsible for the damage. The incident has become an embarrassing setback for the Justice Department, with Trump and Burgum maintaining a different account of the events than Pirro.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Hill, CBS News, Associated Press — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.