Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has defended the decision to drop the Reflecting Pool vandalism case, saying he could not fault President Donald Trump for his frustration but insisting prosecutors acted on the evidence they had.
Blanche made the remarks in an interview with NBC, backing Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, after Trump publicly lashed out at her handling of the case.
Charges dropped against three defendants in Reflecting Pool vandalism case
Pirro’s office filed a nolle prosequi to drop charges against Cameron Theirs, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno, according to The Hill.
A court filing from Pirro’s office had said that ‘botched’ construction work was primarily to blame for damage to the pool’s coating. Trump has repeatedly blamed vandals, without providing evidence.
Separately, Reuters reported that the Justice Department had accused David Hearn of deliberately damaging the pool ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration last month.
Blanche told NBC he would not rule out revisiting the case if Trump pressed for it. ‘Will I take the president of the United States’ view on something into consideration? Yes, of course,’ he said.
Blanche refuses to pledge full independence from White House
Asked whether he would guarantee the Justice Department would always act independently of the White House, Blanche said: ‘No, I can’t pledge that.’
He argued he could not obligate himself to oppose policy goals set by the president. But he added: ‘We will prosecute without fear or any sort of favor.’
The Justice Department traditionally decides which cases to prosecute without White House interference.
Blanche also pushed back against judging Pirro on a single case. ‘I think judging her on a single case because of the evidence that we had is not fair,’ he told NBC News.
He described Pirro as doing ‘a phenomenal job of enforcing’ cases of alleged vandalism at national monuments, pointing to other prosecutions her office had brought.
Pirro’s office last week charged a Kentucky woman with vandalism for spraying the World War II memorial on the National Mall with graffiti.
Blanche also sought to frame Trump’s anger as separate from the legal merits of the decision. ‘The president is extraordinarily frustrated at what happened in that case. And I don’t in any way fault him for that,’ he said.
Even so, he added, ‘the president does not expect any of his leaders, including me, to just say “Yes” to him no matter what he says.’
Trump had previously said he was undecided on whether to keep Pirro as the capital’s top federal prosecutor.
