Charges Against Remaining Reflecting Pool Case Defendants Dropped Despite Trump Complaints
The move to dismiss the remaining charges is likely to further anger President Trump, who slammed Pirro, saying she “choked” and “folded like an umbrella.”
Federal prosecutors in Washington D.C. have dismissed charges against the last three defendants accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, despite President Donald Trump's persistent complaints about the earlier decision to drop charges against former Olympian David Hearn. The three individuals, Justin Carreno, Sophie Dennison-Gibby, and Cameron Thiers, were charged with damaging property valued under $1,000.
According to court filings, the government had allegedly fabricated the crime in Carreno's case, leading to his termination from a government contractor position. Dennison-Gibby's attorney expressed relief for his client, who had been terrified following Trump's public labeling of the defendants as "sick people who faced jail time."
Earlier this week, the Department of Justice dropped the criminal case against Hearn, a Maryland resident and Olympic canoer, after acknowledging that the damage to the pool was a result of a rushed installation process. Trump initially blamed the damage on vandals without any evidence, but later accused former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro of "choking" and "folding like an umbrella" after she dropped the charges against Hearn.
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