Pirro tells reporter ‘I’m not going there’ on Reflecting Pool question

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, on Wednesday declined to answer reporters’ questions on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case during an unrelated Justice Department press conference.

When speaking to journalists about a transnational criminal organization task force, one member of the press asked Pirro if President Trump is pushing her to “revisit the Reflecting Pool case,” to which she responded that she wouldn’t “go there.”

“Oh, why did I know that was coming? That’s why I didn’t call on you first,” Pirro said. “Well, first of all, I’m here to talk about one of the biggest problems that American people have right now. And I’m not going to talk about any other issue. I know you’d love to, but I’m not going there.”

The reporter brought up Trump’s desire to revive charges against four people accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. Last week, a Washington judge described the president’s comments about Olympic canoeist David Hearn — whose vandalism charges Pirro dropped last month — as a “unique threat of meritless re-prosecution .”

Pirro deferred the press’s questions to the president before continuing to discuss Justice Department initiatives as planned.

“The president has the right to decide what he wants to do and what is important. And what he’s shown us already is that through the executive order, that this cryptocurrency fraud on Americans is a priority. There is an executive order, and there is a focus with resources for us to do it,” Pirro said.

Calling on another reporter, she said, “Next! Not on the pool.”

Pirro continued to take other questions related to the Justice Department’s enforcement announcement before a reporter again tried to ask about the Reflecting Pool case.

“No, I’m not going there. You and I have this relationship, and I’m not going there. Anyone else?” she said.

Pirro appeared to grow frustrated with questions about the pool, raising her voice when a journalist asked about the case for a third and final time during the conference.

“No, no and no,” she responded. “Who wants to know about this? How many times do I have to say no? I am not talking about that. Anyone want to talk about this case?”

The Reflecting Pool vandalism cases became a tension point between Pirro and Trump when she dropped property destruction charges against Hearn — as well as misdemeanor charges against three others — in early August.

“She folded like an umbrella ,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Aug. 3, adding that he thought Pirro “choked.”

The president later urged Pirro to “re-visit her hastily made decision” in a Truth Social post .

Hearn’s attorneys are asking Judge Todd Edelman of the District of Columbia Superior Court to dismiss the canoeist’s case with prejudice , barring the Justice Department from seeking further criminal charges against him related to the alleged vandalism.