President Donald Trump put Jeanine Pirro on notice late Sunday, blaming vandals for patches of dead grass on the National Mall, the same lawn where he staged his own Fourth of July celebration weeks earlier.
In a Truth Social post Sunday, Trump wrote: "Look what VANDALS did to the grass connecting the vandalized World War II Monument and the vandalized Reflecting Pool, which will be opened again, and better than ever, shortly. Anybody who thinks the Reflecting Pool wasn't vandalized should go back to Law School!"
For months, Trump has insisted that vandals damaged his renovation projects in the capital, assertions he has repeatedly resurfaced without evidence and at times against his own officials' findings. Pirro, his U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., dropped a felony case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn after concluding a botched renovation caused the Reflecting Pool's damage, rather than any vandal. White House officials have since asked the Justice Department to weigh a new case against Hearn.
The stretch of lawn Trump cited is where a large stage was built, and crowds gathered for his Independence Day event marking the nation's 250th anniversary, according to The Associated Press. Photos taken by a webcam atop the Washington Monument show a bandstand and seating covering nearly the entire area. Trump claimed, without providing evidence, that more than 400,000 people attended before a storm delayed his remarks.
Authorities on Friday announced an arrest in a separate case, after the words "Clean hands dirty $" were painted on the World War II Memorial and bubbles filled a fountain. Officials said the suspect had previously been arrested for camping on federal property a few blocks away.