Jeanine Pirro had had it up to here with Doug Burgum. The famously voluble U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia strode into the Oval Office late Monday with her future on the line and the interior secretary, whom she privately called an incompetent liar, in her cross hairs.<\/p>\n
A few hours earlier \u2014 in front of the cameras, from the Resolute Desk \u2014 President Trump had accused Ms. Pirro, an ally and friend from New York going back decades, of \u201cfolding like an umbrella\u201d and \u201cchoking\u201d after she withdrew charges against a man accused of destroying the lining of his beloved but shoddily renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.<\/p>\n
Why was he so angry at her? Because Ms. Pirro had dared to publicly demolish one of his most cherished narratives, promoted by Mr. Burgum, that vandals \u2014 and not a contractor hired by the Interior Department to do a rushed job \u2014 had defaced a Washington landmark.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump raged against Ms. Pirro in private on Monday. Then he raged a little to reporters. Rumors she would be fired burbled through West Wing. Then he raged a little bit more before hosting a high-drama, face-to-face meeting with Ms. Pirro at the White House worthy of two decorated veterans of confrontational reality TV.<\/p>\n
Mr. Burgum had been invited too, so Ms. Pirro came prepared. She entered the White House from the West Executive driveway in a bright red blazer that matched her fight-back mood, schlepping a white box containing evidence, plus a black box with documents, on wheels.<\/p>\n
Waiting for her in the Oval Office, along with the president: Mr. Trump\u2019s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and David Warrington, the White House counsel.<\/p>\n
After about an hour of intense back-and-forth, Ms. Pirro emerged with her job intact, for now.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, Ms. Pirro, her voice raised at times, directly confronted Mr. Burgum, accusing him of misleading the president. She made the case that Mr. Burgum had promoted a self-serving cover story to conceal his own missteps.<\/p>\n
Mr. Burgum spoke less, but did his best to defend himself, according to a person briefed on the exchange requesting anonymity to discuss internal conversations.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump seemed considerably less angry by day\u2019s end, the person said.<\/p>\n
Spokespeople for the White House, Ms. Pirro and Mr. Burgum did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
This account, based on interviews with several people with knowledge of the events, demonstrated a core truth of Mr. Trump\u2019s second term: Anyone willing to contradict the president is in trouble, even if the dissenter happens to be a family friend who has faithfully executed his prosecutorial agenda over the years.<\/p>\n
The saga began on July 2, when a fired-up Ms. Pirro appeared before members of the news media to announce that her office had indicted David Hearn, 67, a former Olympic canoeist, on a single count of felony vandalism after he had been observed damaging the pool lining.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not only a priority for the president, but for myself,\u201d Ms. Pirro said, adding: \u201cWe will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hearn willfully destroyed property.\u201d<\/p>\n
She did not. Last Friday, Ms. Pirro beat a humbling prosecutorial retreat in a 20-page court filing<\/a>, admitting that her fast-track July indictment of the three-time Olympian had been based on false assumptions and incomplete evidence.<\/p>\n The document amounted to an indictment of sorts of Mr. Burgum; the contractor hired to repair the pool, Atlantic Industrial Coatings; and U.S. Park Police officials.<\/p>\n Ms. Pirro\u2019s filing suggested that Mr. Burgum had committed the twofold sin of failing to competently oversee the renovation, then prodding Mr. Trump to accept the vandals-did-it story. Ms. Pirro said that her staff had relied almost exclusively on claims by Interior Department officials that extensive damage to the lining was caused by Mr. Hearn and other vandals who were observed tugging at or removing pieces of material from the wall.<\/p>\n