White House officials asked the Justice Department to assess whether a new criminal case could be brought against David Hearn after federal prosecutors moved earlier this month to dismiss a felony indictment tied to alleged damage at the Lincoln Memorial's Reflecting Pool. The original charge, filed by Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, accused the former Olympian of felony destruction of government property involving more than $1,000 in damage to sealant recently installed at the bottom of the pool, a renovation project championed by President Trump. Prosecutors later sought dismissal without prejudice after citing new information that the damage resulted from a contractor's botched installation rather than vandalism. Discussions last week between the White House and the Justice Department's Criminal Division focused on whether the case could potentially be refiled as a misdemeanor, which would avoid the need for a grand jury, though the talks were exploratory and ended without a decision. The case was formally dismissed by a D.C. Superior Court judge last week, but the judge left unresolved whether the dismissal should be with or without prejudice, a distinction that could affect whether the felony case can be revived, with further briefing scheduled for late this summer and early fall. After dropping Hearn's case, prosecutors also moved to dismiss misdemeanor charges against three other defendants. Michael Bromwich, Hearn's attorney, said there was no evidence to support charging his client and criticized any effort to revive the case. The episode has also drawn attention to White House-Justice Department contacts over criminal matters, a sensitive issue for prosecutorial independence. During the Biden administration, Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote that the department would not advise the White House on pending or contemplated cases unless necessary for the President's duties and appropriate from a law enforcement perspective. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, by contrast, said at his confirmation hearing that the Justice Department, like every executive department, is part of the executive.