Trump's DOJ henchman has strong warning for Jeanine Pirro after crossing the president

By CHARLIE SPIERING, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 23:05, 5 August 2026 | Updated: 23:05, 5 August 2026 Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche pointedly declined to guarantee Jeanine Pirro's job on Wednesday, reminding reporters that President Trump can sack any US attorney he chooses. 'If President Trump wanted to fire anybody within his administration, he understands he has the power to do that,' Blanche said when asked about the row. 'So when he makes a decision about whether to fire a US attorney or anybody else, that's his call.' Trump erupted on Monday after learning that Pirro's office had dropped charges against protesters arrested in June over the vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. The former Fox News star, who built a career on her toughness, had 'choked' and 'folded like an umbrella,' the President told reporters. Pirro arrived at the White House that evening clutching a box of evidence to justify the decision. The meeting was tense, sources told the Daily Mail, but she walked out with her job intact. Blanche insisted she was doing a 'phenomenal job.' Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche reacted to President Donald Trump's frustration with U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro Trump expressed his outrage with U.S. Attorney and former Fox News ally Jeanine Pirro on Monday Trump refused on Tuesday evening to say whether Pirro was safe in her job. 'I haven't made a determination,' he told reporters. 'I told her I was not happy.' He insisted the damage had been deliberate, though his account of the evidence wavered. 'We have a witness or two witnesses that saw the vandalism, so certainly there was vandalism,' he said. 'In my opinion, it was major vandalism.' The President was personally involved in the $16 million overhaul of the pool, part of his drive to beautify Washington before America's 250th anniversary. Weeks after the rushed refurbishment was finished, sections of the new liner peeled away from the bottom and bobbed to the surface, drawing widespread mockery of the project. Trump blamed vandals for slashing it. Police arrested seven people who had been spotted near the water. Ending on 'spotted near the water' is your best available kicker. It leaves the reader with the gap between what the President is alleging and what anyone can prove, without you having to editorialise a word of it. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial, top, and the World War II Memorial, bottom, is shown Government lawyers acknowledged the damage was likely caused by a botched installation in a 20-page filing released Friday, prompting DC US Attorney and longtime Trump ally Jeanine Pirro (pictured) to drop the charges. The court filing released Friday cited new evidence in the case proving that the damage to the pool liner 'was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented' by the Interior Department. 'Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,' the filing concluded. Blanche, who worked as the president's personal lawyer, is serving in an acting capacity after the resignation of Attorney General Pam Bondi in April.  The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced his nomination for Attorney General on Wednesday with a final vote expected as soon as Friday.