President Donald Trump's top prosecutor in Washington, D.C., abruptly dropped vandalism charges against an Olympic athlete, and CNN's Elie Honig provided some insight into her surprising reversal.
The president expressed extreme displeasure with U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro after she ended the prosecution of former slalom canoeist David Hearn over damage caused to the Reflecting Pool, which her office said was caused by botched renovations rather than vandals.
"So the first thing thatsomeone in David Hearn's position," Honig told "CNN News Central, "is goingto do is look to formally getthis thing dismissed, andthey're going to ask to dismissit with prejudice, meaning youdid something wrong,prosecution, and you cannotbring it back to life."
Federal prosecutors accused employees of the Interior Department of misleading them about what caused the damage, and Honig said Hearn has a strong case to sue the federal government.
"Whether it's dismissedwith or without prejudice, thedefendant, the former defendant,can absolutely bring a claimunder what's called the Federal Tort Claims Act," he said. "We've sort offocused so much on this [$1.8 billion] slushfund, but the reality is, evenwithout the slush fund, peoplewho have been wronged by thefederal government can put inlegal claims and get paid."
"Here you have a guy who was indicted, who was draggedthrough the limelight byprosecutors, and now they say,we never had the evidence," Honig added. "He'sgot a very strong claim, if andwhen he makes that claim."
Honig said other Trump targets could make similar claims against the Department of Justice.
"Sincealmost the beginning of thisadministration, it's beenremarkable to me that so muchfocus has been on the slush fund,as it should, and the Epsteinfiles, as it should, but almostnone on this weaponization," Honig said. "Thisguy is not the first. There's along and growing list of peoplewho have been prosecuted largelyfor political purposes, and inthose cases have all collapsed.That's all on [acting attorney general Todd] Blanche, but noneof it seems to have stuck tohim."