CNN legal analyst Elie Honig on Tuesday offered a sharp critique of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host appointed to the post by President Donald Trump, following her office's decision last week to drop vandalism charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn.

Hearn had been indicted in July on one count of felony destruction of property after he allegedly touched peeling paint from the liner of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. In her motion to dismiss the charge, Pirro acknowledged that "the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism." Misdemeanor charges against at least three other individuals accused of damaging the pool were also dropped.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, President Donald Trump said Pirro "choked" and "folded like an umbrella" in her handling of the Reflecting Pool case. The president's public rebuke of his own appointee follows a pattern throughout his political career of publicly pressuring Justice Department officials over specific prosecutions and charging decisions.

Honig, however, described the situation differently, calling the saga a "perfect exhibit" of "Trump's view of the Justice Department … that they are there to carry out his will."

"Donald Trump doesn't have any particular facts or insight into this case more than what prosecutors would have with respect to the claim that Jeanine Pirro 'folded like an umbrella,'" Honig said. "The thing that she really did is ultimately, far belatedly, do the right thing."

Honig argued that Pirro's fundamental error was bringing charges before sufficient evidence existed. "The problem is she charged this case without having the evidence," he explained. "She oversold what this case was. And now Jeanine Pirro is trying to say, 'Well, the Department of Interior didn't tell us certain things.' I'm sorry, that's your job as a prosecutor. You don't get to charge someone, indict another person and then say, 'Oops, I found out something later and that undermines my case.' Your job is to take your time, investigate fully, get it right, and then indict. And here Jeanine Pirro did that backwards."

"So I don't see it as her folding. I see her as her belatedly correcting an egregious mistake," he continued. "I don't think she should be forgiven for it, but it's better that she, quote, unquote folded than that she stuck with this ridiculous prosecution."

Honig also addressed the potential legal recourse available to Hearn, describing him as a "textbook example" of someone who has "been wronged by the federal government." The former Olympian could "absolutely" pursue a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, Honig said. The Federal Tort Claims Act allows private individuals to sue the United States in federal court for certain torts committed by federal employees acting within the scope of their employment.

"The government has now admitted they did not have the evidence to support this," Honig noted. "He obviously has sustained reputational harm. I'm sure he has sustained attorneys fees and other damages … That's sort of how the system is supposed to work, and not to pay off, for example, January 6th rioters."