Here's why Jeanine Pirro should be disbarred over the Reflecting pool bad faith prosecutions!

There are clear violations of ethical rules!

Despite what some in the media are saying, Jeanine Pirro did NOT do the “right thing” when she dropped the criminal case versus David Hearn over the Reflecting pool case. She dropped this case as act of self-preservation for her law license. Pirro began this rushed and baseless criminal prosecution to make Trump happy. Pirro only dropped the case because she realized she could be disbarred for bringing a bad faith prosecution. In reality, Pirro still should be disbarred!

The prosecution of former Olympian David Hearn is yet another example of Trump using the DOJ as weapon. This time Trump was angry that headlines leading up to the 250-anniversary celebration of the United States on July 4^th were all about the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting pool peeling and turning green due to algae. Since Trump had circumvented the bidding process and given the contracts for this project to two companies he had worked with in the past, he needed to come up with an excuse for their failure since it reflected on him.

That is when Trump began peddling lies that the Reflecting pool had been attacked by vandals—even claiming on June 22 that someone had “cut a 350-foot slit from one end to the other” of the Reflecting pool. He added that the Department of Interior had footage that showed a person who “cut it, they cut it very violently. The same thing with the floor, they cut it, and then they lifted it. They pulled it, and that’s what it is.”

With pressure building, Pirro needed to act quickly to make Trump happy. That is why a week later on July 2, Pirro announced that Hearn was charged with a felony for causing damage of more than $1,000.00—which carried up to 10 years in prison. At the press conference, Pirro bragged, “This is a case with tremendous evidence.” (A lie.) She then offered details saying, “National Park employees observed Hearn actually forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands.”

At that presser, Pirro was pressed by a reporter on how she could be certain Hearn caused more than $1,000 worth of damages to make this a felony. Pirro defiantly responded she would prove that with “an expert.” And when the reporter noted there was prior damage reported before Hearn went to the pool, she wasn’t having any of it, literally yelling at the reporter about Hearn, “He damaged the pool! He damaged it!”

But since the time Hearn was arrested in mid-June--weeks before the July 2 indictment—he noted as did the media that the pool had already been damaged before Hearn ever got there. Hearn stated after he was arrested that there was floating debris in the pool he simply reached out to touch. He added, “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.”

Even more damning for Pirro is that Hearn’s lawyer filed a motion 10 days ago explaining that “the Government’s sole grand-jury witness on damages testified that the property was already damaged before Mr. Hearn allegedly touched it.” Under oath, that government witness told the grand jury that even before Hearn appeared at the location: “The pool was leaking more than one million gallons of water per week; its expansion joints had exceeded their service life; and the liner already contained a rip.”

That is why the government’s witness testified, “that the same repairs would have been required regardless of Mr. Hearn’s conduct; and that he could not quantify any loss attributable to that conduct.”

That testimony by the government’s witness destroys this case. Given a judge was going to consider the defendant’s motion, Pirro quickly came up with she just discovered “new evidence” that compelled the dismissal. What was it? The same thing we all knew before the charges were filed, namely the pool had been peeling weeks before Hearn ever showed up because of faulty workmanship by Trump’s hand-picked contractors.

The most damning line in Pirro’s new motion includes was that she “was not in possession of any information from DOI [Dept of Interior] indicating that any damage to the Reflecting Pool was caused by anything other than the actions of the defendant and other vandals who damaged the pool’s lining.” How could that be given the sole witness presented by Pirro’s offices to the grand jury on the issue of damages testified “the property was already damaged before Mr. Hearn allegedly touched it.”

We also learned Pirro rushed to get the indictment--and then did an investigation. That is unethical. For example, DOJ admitted in court documents that Pirro herself went with other prosecutors on July 1 to examine the pool—the day before the indictment. But for some reason despite images of the pool peeling, she claims she couldn’t see the floor of the pool because it was “obscured as it was covered with water.” You mean clear water was “obscuring” the floor of the pool?!!

Pirro notes that when she went back on July 17, it was finally obvious there was massive damage across the bottom of the Reflecting pool. Only then—if Pirro is to be believed—did she seek more information from the Department of Interior which informed her that base of the Reflecting Pool began peeling since May due to faulty workmanship. How could she not know that before seeking to indict Hearn for a felony where he could he could be imprisoned for 10 years?!

Pirro—apparently aware she has exposed herself to potential ethical violation—is now trying to blame the Dept of Interior for not telling her it wasn’t Hearn who caused the damage, rather it “was the result of a flawed installation by the contractor.” Pirro’s motion noted, “Had [the Interior Department] been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.” With that the DOJ concluded, “Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism.”

Either Pirro lied or rushed to bring a bogus case to make Trump happy despite a lack of evidence? In either case Pirro needs to be investigated for this apparent misconduct which appear to violate various rules of professional conduct that govern lawyers. And that is not just my opinion. A group of former judges and law professors two weeks ago already filed a sweeping ethics complaint against her in New York to do just that because of her actions using DOJ to further Trump’s agenda—which referenced this very case. And that was even before Pirro’s new motion to dismiss the case raised even more potential misconduct.

Pirro’s potential ethical violations include making untruthful statements to the court in violation of Rule of Professional conduct 3.3. The ethical requirement that a prosecutor should “refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause.” And making a false statement to the public about the case.

Trump’s pardons can’t protect a lawyer from disbarment. In fact, numerous other lawyers who worked for Trump have been disbarred including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Kenneth Cheseboro for actions in connection with Trump’s efforts after the 2020 election. At this point Pirro must be investigated to ensure that any future prosecutions are brought based on credible evidence--not simply to please Donald Trump!

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My video breaks it down in more detail: