Judge Poised to Kill Trump's Reflecting Pool Case

The damage at issue occurs to a roughly two-square-foot piece of liner in the Reflecting Pool, which Trump had ordered renovated with "American flag blue" sealant.

Hearn is arrested on an initial misdemeanor charge. He told The Washington Post he had stopped after a long bike ride and reached into the water to feel a partially detached piece of liner: "I didn't vandalize anything. I didn't destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs."

A grand jury indicts Hearn on a felony destruction of property charge carrying up to 10 years in prison. Pirro says he "forcefully and violently" ripped out the liner.

Pirro moves to dismiss the indictment without prejudice, telling the court her office learned from the Interior Department that the sealant damage came from a "flawed installation." The department, she wrote, had "provided less than fulsome information at the outset of this case."

Trump posts on Truth Social: "I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don't know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM." He later says from the Oval Office, "I think she choked."

Hearn's lawyers file for dismissal with prejudice, arguing the case was "motivated by political considerations and devoid of adequate factual support" and warning of "renewed charges, however meritless, driven by political pressure rather than the evidence."

Edelman hears argument and takes the matter under advisement.