With her job on the line after President Donald Trump humiliated her, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro charged a woman with two felonies carrying 10-year prison sentences for spray-painting the World War II Memorial.
Melissa L. Farris was arrested Friday and charged with spray-painting the words “Clean hands, dirty money” in bright pink on the memorial’s stone surfaces and dumping bubble soap into its fountain, according to Fox News.
Pirro is currently in a fight for her job after being publicly berated by Trump publicly for dropping another vandalism case weeks earlier.
Pirro charged Farris with depredation against property of the U.S. and destruction of veterans’ memorials — federal felonies that each carry up to 10 years in prison, announced on X.
“Vandalizing our World War II Memorial is a despicable attack on a sacred monument honoring the Americans who fought and died for our freedom,” Pirro wrote. “Those Americans include my father and grandfather. This morning, we are filing two felony charges…against Melissa L. Farris, offenses that carry penalties of up to ten years in prison. She is now in custody.”
Farris allegedly struck the memorial Thursday night, the Justice Department said.
“Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals,” Trump wrote on Truth Social before the arrest was announced. “THERE CAN BE NO GREATER INSULT TO THOSE AMERICAN HEROES WHO DIED IN WORLD WAR II. First the Reflecting Pool, now this. We are on their trail! Where do these animals come from???”
Pirro had just weeks earlier dropped a high-profile vandalism case at the Reflecting Pool — a decision Trump had already attacked her over publicly, CBS News reported.
Pirro had charged former Olympic canoeist David Hearn with felony destruction of property in early July, accusing him of ripping up the pool’s lining — but her office later concluded the damage was caused by a rushed Trump administration renovation, not Hearn, CBS News reported.
In a court filing, Pirro’s office wrote that a “flawed installation by the contractor” — not vandalism — was responsible for the damage, according to PBS News.
Trump responded by publicly rebuking Pirro in the Oval Office, CBS News reported.
“I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. She folded like an umbrella.” He added: “I guess she choked. I don’t know what the hell happened.”
Trump considered removing Pirro from her post and did not answer directly when asked by reporters whether her job was safe, CNN reported.
Earlier this week, Pirro took another aggressive step — convening a special grand jury in Washington, D.C., a move Semafor reported had raised eyebrows among Trump allies.
The special grand jury — a panel of citizens used for large investigations, rarely convened in a jurisdiction as small as D.C. — was seen by one administration official as an obvious ploy to “save her job at all costs,” Semafor reported.
As of Friday morning, no lawyer had been identified for Farris, according to CNN.
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