00:02President Trump is still leaving the door open when it comes to the future of his top federal
00:06prosecutor in Washington, even as the man hoping to become the next attorney general says
00:12the president has every right to fire her. Questions around Jeanine Pirro continue after
00:18her office dropped the felony case against former Olympian David Hearn and three other people
00:23accused of damaging the new Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Prosecutors now say new evidence
00:29shows the damage was caused by a botched installation, not vandalism. But Trump has
00:34repeatedly rejected that conclusion, something he says he told Pirro to her face this week.
00:40Everybody saw the vandalism. All you have to do is look at the tape. If you look at the tape,
00:45plus we have a witness or two witnesses that saw the vandalism. So certainly when there was vandalism,
00:51it was actually, in my opinion, it was major vandalism. And I told her I was not happy.
00:57Trump told reporters he has not decided whether Pirro will keep her job. Wednesday,
01:03Todd Blanche was asked whether firing Pirro would send a message to federal prosecutors
01:08who make charging decisions. He didn't weigh in on the case itself, but he made one thing clear.
01:14Hypothetically, if the president chose to fire a United States attorney, it turns out he's allowed
01:18to do that because he's the president of the United States. So I don't. And by the way,
01:22he, if the president wanted, if president Trump wanted to fire anybody, right, within his
01:27administration, he very, he understands he has the power to do that. The comments come as Blanche's
01:33own nomination to lead the Justice Department faces a critical test in the Senate. Republicans can
01:39afford to lose just one more vote after Senator Susan Collins announced her opposition. That leaves
01:45Louisiana's Bill Cassidy and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski as two of the last undeclared Republicans,
01:51ahead of a confirmation vote expected as early as today.
01:55Ever wonder what we learned that doesn't make it into a two minute story? That's what Offscript
02:00is all about. Longer conversations, extra reporting. And then to make things more complicated,
02:05environmental factors often interact with genetics. And the context behind the headlines
02:10from the people who know the stories best. President Trump chose to go to Michigan and make
02:16his presence felt and make himself part of the conversation there. Unbiased updates off script
02:21Thursdays at Straight Arrow.
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