Jeanine Pirro dropped vandalism charges against four visitors arrested for vandalizing the now-famous Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Much of the media has told the Reflecting Pool story as a sometimes comical and sometimes cruel story of President Trump making outrageous claims of vandalism by a secret cabal of Woke terrorists and arresting a former member of the United States Olympic Team. Apart from the comical accusations of someone using a box cutter to cut a 350 foot long hole in the Reflecting Pool while the president had taken multi-ton vehicles onto the surface to create a photo opportunity, what I am concerned about is what depths of deception the Interior Department has sunk to in its arrests and criminal prosecutions of those it wants to criminalize, as well as the Department’s gleeful deception of the courts. I am particularly concerned because the hallowed National Park Service is part of the Interior Department under the supervision of Doug Burgum a notorious fabricator.
Jeanine Pirro’s attorneys told the court that the charges against the four people facing a criminal trial were being withdrawn because the Justice Department had concluded that the damage to the Reflecting Pool was not caused by vandalism, but by faulty installation by the president’s no-bid contractor. The prosecutors also told the court that they had earlier proceeded with the case because the Interior Department had withheld information from the Justice Department and had failed to respond in a timely manner to the inquiries put forth by the Justice Department.
In its filing last Friday, the Justice Department told the court, “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 prosecutors said they had make “dozens and dozens” of requests for information to the Interior Department that had not been responded to. The prosecutors told the court that “Had [the Interior Department] been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment,”
Part of what was not disclosed to the Justice Department was an internal Interior Department report saying that the problems with the Reflecting Pool was likely the result of contractor error.
Doug Burgum has been front and center at this deception. When the liner was finished, Burgum bathed in the spotlight of MAGA triumph. When algae became apparent just a few days later, he denied that the Pool was anything other than clear. As it became clear that the liner was floating on the surface, the Interior Secretary began having visitors arrested on the charge that they had been part of the plot. Of course they were arrested for being at the Reflecting Pool days after the apparent inadequacy of the liner was already well known throughout the nation.
Doug Burgum has engaged in similar deception before. Historical and environmental exhibits have been removed at national parks around the country at his initiative. The Philadelphia President’s House removal of plaques discussing George Washington’s involvement with slavery, and the lives of enslaved African Americans who were held by him, were, without warning, taken down by National Park employees. There have been dozens of other removals without so much as press releases expalining how these were selected, what the process was for making the removal decision, or how the public could have any input into the decision. A secret process that the Interior Department withheld from not only the American people, but also Congress and the Courts.
We saw the same thing with Burgum’s use of National Park Police to participate in immigration arrests. Taking immigrants into custody is not part of the NPS Police’s jobs, just like the NPS Police does not audit your Federal taxes before you gain admittance to Gettysburg. However, Burgum claimed that this was to arrest dangerous alien criminals. He still hasn’t show any evidence that that is the case. Meanwhile the NPS Police’s actions have told Latino Americans that the National Parks are not for them.
Burgum is a political player without any rules. He is involving the Interior Department, with many fine professional staff, in this Trumpian game of not following the law or even the moral choice not to use unlawful deception to achieve their aims.
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