Trump Blames James Comey’s ‘86 47’ Post for Reflecting Pool Debacle That Sunk Jeanine Pirro’s Prosecution of Olympian

President Trump’s allegation that the former FBI director James Comey’s “86 47” post inspired the debacle that has engulfed the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool underscores the president’s preoccupation with the monument, now in a shambles.Last week the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro moved to dismiss charges against three defendants charged with vandalizing the pool. That came shortly after charges in the same case were dropped against a three-time Olympic canoeist David Hearn. Judge Pirro is now blaming the contractor for botching the renovation. Mr. Trump and Judge Pirro have long been close, with a relationship dating to the 1990s. Mr. Trump, though, insists that this is “a pure case of VANDALISM” and that Judge Pirro “choked” when she signaled that prosecutors are abandoning a case, filing a nolle prosequi, the legal term that means “to be unwilling to pursue.” The president added that “I don’t know what the hell happened.” He also accused her of “folding like an umbrella.” Tempers reportedly flared at an Oval Office meeting between the president, Judge Pirro, and U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.Cameras caught Judge Pirro entering that meeting conveying a white box containing evidence as well as a black box with documents, presumably to bolster her case that prosecutions were not plausible. When the Department of Justice first charged Mr. Hearn early last month Judge Pirro declared that “This is not only a priority for the president, but for myself. We will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hearn willfully destroyed property.” In her filing withdrawing the charges Judge Pirro wrote that the Department of the Interior “botched” the renovation and also blamed the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings. That company was picked in a no-bid process. Costs have reportedly run past $13 million. Between 2010 and 2012 the Obama administration spent more than $35 million trying to solve problems related to the pool, which include the profusion of algae among other setbacks. On Sunday night Mr. Trump posted that on the grass adjoining the pool was “written the letters, ‘86 47,’ a phrase probably gotten from James Comey.” The former FBI director was criminally charged in April for posting a picture to Instagram of those numbers with the caption “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” The DOJ alleges that the picture was a “true threat” on Mr. Trump’s life because “86” is slang for “to get rid of.” The second number, “47,” refers to Mr. Trump’s place in the presidential pantheon.In April Mr. Trump told reporters that “You ever see the movies? ‘86 him,’ the mobster says to one of his wonderful associates. ‘86 him.’ That means kill him. I think of it as a mob term.” The Department of Justice reached out to the mafioso Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano — who confessed to 19 murders as a Gotti family henchman — to confirm that usage. Mr. Comey has moved to dismiss the case as an infringement on the First Amendment. He argues that the Justice Department’s case “is contradicted by every possible source of meaning: dictionaries, context, precedent, and common sense.”In June the “86 47” numbers appeared etched onto the grass at the National Mall, right near the Reflecting Pool. In a statement the Interior Department denounced the “deranged vandalism” and insisted that “Any threat against the President is taken very seriously by the Department, and our U.S. Park Police will investigate this incident and hold those responsible accountable.”On Sunday Mr. Trump also noted that “We are working on the Pool, and it will reopen shortly. As with many jobs, there was also some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening, but it was a very small area of this massive Pool, and was relatively inconsequential.” The president acknowledges that “unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage, itself” to point to a culprit. Judge Pirro’s filing reckons that “The rush to complete the project led to hasty and botched work that was not remediated before the project was finished and the fencing removed.” Mr. Trump reassured the public, “We are working on the Pool, and it will reopen shortly.” The pool was dedicated in 1922 during the presidential administration of Warren G. Harding.

Trump Blames James Comey’s ‘86 47’ Post for Reflecting Pool Debacle That Sunk Jeanine Pirro’s Prosecution of Olympian

Trump Blames James Comey’s ‘86 47’ Post for Reflecting Pool Debacle That Sunk Jeanine Pirro’s Prosecution of Olympian

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