This Is Why Jeanine Pirro Defied Trump: Wolff
Allegations against a supposed reflecting pool “vandal” were too absurd even for a longtime Trump ally to prosecute.
Donald Trump’s longtime biographer has lauded Jeanine Pirro for resisting intense pressure from the president to prosecute a supposed “vandal” without evidence.
Michael Wolff tells the Inside Trump’s Head podcast that he believes Trump’s hand-picked D.C. prosecutor and MAGA ally had a “burst of clarity” when she decided to drop charges against the former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Pirro, 75, abandoned her prosecution of David Hearn on Friday, saying it was a “flawed installation” that caused Trump’s green-slime fiasco, not vandalism. She also admonished the Department of the Interior for not “fully and accurately” briefing her prosecutors.

Hearn competed in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympic Games as a canoeist.
Tony Marshall - EMPICS/Tony Marshall/EMPICS via Getty Images
“It’s just flatly not true. It is obviously not true,” Wolf said of the accusations against Hearn. “If it went before a judge, it would be thrown out. She... could be sanctioned on this.”
Wolff continued, “Trump wants this done, but she has to do it, and she has to do it in her name,” he explained. “So I think it just got to be too much for her. I think she just said, ‘I can’t. There is just no way. Even I, a loyal—abjectly loyal—Trump functionary, factotum, I can’t do this.’”
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro says peeling paint was due to a botched installation.
Kylie Cooper/REUTERS
Hearn, 67, had pleaded not guilty to a single count of destruction of property. His lawyers said in a statement that the administration owes him an apology—though there has been zero indication from the White House that one is coming.
Get the best of The Beast delivered right to your inbox
By clicking “SUBSCRIBE” you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Rather, the 80-year-old Trump has raged at Pirro over her decision to drop the charges, saying in the Oval Office on Monday that she had “choked” and “folded like an umbrella.”
“I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro,” he said of the former Fox News pundit. “Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department, and I guess she choked. I don’t know what the hell happened.”
Neither the White House nor Pirro’s office immediately returned the Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
Asked by co-host Joanna Coles why Pirro would make such a decision that would anger the president, Wolff theorized that this lie was just “too much for her.” He said that he thinks Pirro experienced a burst of “incredulity” at the tricky situation she found herself in.
Drained reflecting pool shows no cut marks Donald Trump has claimed were made by "vandals."
Nathan Howard/REUTERS
“Somehow, in her mind, I think she said, ‘I’m in... a terrible corner here,’” he said. “Some people suddenly say, ’I have a reputation. I’m Judge Jeanine, I have a reputation.’”
“There’s an old expression: There is some s--t I cannot eat,” Wolff added. “I think that she just came to the end of the road. And I’m sure she now regrets it, by the way. But I think she had a burst of... clarity, a burst of just, ‘Can I do anything else?’”
Find and subscribe to Inside Trump’s Head with Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes of incomparable insight into the psyche of the world’s most talked-about man drop every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evening on YouTube and Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday mornings on other podcast platforms.
Unlock a year of full access to The Looker and The Daily Beast for $35.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Looker and The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
Sign in
Login dialog


ADVERTISEMENT
Sign in or create an account
Login dialog
Loading comments…
ADVERTISEMENT