U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum clashed Monday in an Oval Office meeting devoted to the failed federal prosecution of an alleged pool vandal, according to a New York Times report.At issue: Pirro went to court backed by Burgum’s flimsy evidence, and now she’s the one paying the price.In addition to Pirro, Burgum and President Donald Trump, insiders told the Times that Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles and White House counsel David Warrington were present for the tense, hourlong meeting.Per the Times, Pirro did most of the talking, raising her voice at times. Burgum, meanwhile, “did his best to defend himself.”Earlier in the day, Trump had fumed to reporters about Pirro’s prosecutorial performance.“Frankly, I think she choked,” Trump said. “I don’t know what the hell happened.”“She folded like an umbrella,” he offered later.But in a motion to dismiss the indictment filed Friday, the Department of Justice pointedly said the case’s failure starts and ends with Burgum.The Interior Department “provided less than fulsome information at the outset of this case,” the DOJ explained. “Had DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.”“Damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor,” it conceded. Burgum, meanwhile, sided with the president in a social media post ― lack of evidence be damned.“The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool,” he asserted Saturday, while offering no further evidence.Trump, too, keeps standing by his own tall tale. “She was totally wrong. They did a beautiful job … everybody saw the vandalism. All you have to do is look at the tape,” the president said Tuesday night. “It was, in my opinion, it was major vandalism.”Yet perhaps the most damning blow for Pirro — and for fact-based governance — landed Wednesday morning, when acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to voice support for his own U.S. attorney.“You’ve declined to say whether you stand by Jeanine Pirro’s decision to drop that case,” a reporter noted. “What message does it send, though, if President Trump fires a U.S. attorney because she determined there was not sufficient evidence?”“Hypothetically, if the president chose to fire a United States attorney, it turns out he’s allowed to do that,” Blanche said. “Because he’s the president of the United States.”While sources told CNN it’s “highly likely” Pirro could soon be fired, Trump said Tuesday night that he hasn’t “made a determination” yet.Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Jeanine Pirro dropping reflecting pool vandalism charges: "Hypothetically if the president chose to fire a United States attorney, turns out he's allowed to do that because he's the president of the United States." pic.twitter.com/eIfAycUrKD— CSPAN (@cspan) August 5, 2026At Trump’s urging, Pirro previously embarked on numerous ill-advised prosecutorial misadventures.Last year, Pirro prosecuted “Sandwich Guy,” so known because he tossed a submarine sandwich at a Border Patrol agent’s chest. After a three-month criminal case, he was found not guilty.And in February, a grand jury declined to indict six Democratic lawmakers who released a video reminding members of the military their oath is to the Constitution and that they can “refuse illegal orders.” Trump suggested the lawmakers should be hanged and called their actions “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”