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Inside the Oval Office Showdown Between Trump and Jeanine Pirro
nytimes.com • • general
Key Points:
- Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, confronted Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in the Oval Office amid tensions over her handling of a vandalism case at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
- President Trump publicly criticized Pirro for withdrawing charges against a suspect, accusing her of "folding like an umbrella" and undermining his narrative that vandals, not contractors, were responsible for the damage.
- Trump privately and publicly expressed anger toward Pirro, fueling rumors of her potential firing and culminating in a dramatic face-to-face meeting at the White House.
- The conflict centers on differing accounts of who defaced the Washington landmark, with Pirro challenging the official story promoted by Burgum and Trump.
