The top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., appointed under President Donald Trump, abruptly dropped vandalism charges against former Olympic slalom canoeist David Hearn — and legal analyst Elie Honig says the collapsed case could expose the federal government to liability.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the former Westchester County district judge and Fox News host installed to lead the D.C. office, moved to end the prosecution of Hearn over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a National Park Service site maintained by the Interior Department, after her office concluded the damage resulted from botched renovation work rather than vandalism. President Trump reportedly expressed extreme displeasure with Pirro over the reversal.

Appearing on "CNN News Central," Honig — a former federal prosecutor and current CNN senior legal analyst — said Hearn's legal team will likely seek to have the case dismissed with prejudice, which would bar prosecutors from reviving the charges.

"The first thing that someone in David Hearn's position is going to do is look to formally get this thing dismissed, and they're going to ask to dismiss it with prejudice, meaning you did something wrong, prosecution, and you cannot bring it back to life," Honig said.

Federal prosecutors had accused employees of the Interior Department of misleading them about the cause of the damage. Honig said that regardless of whether the dismissal is granted with or without prejudice, Hearn would have grounds to sue the federal government.

"Whether it's dismissed with or without prejudice, the defendant, the former defendant, can absolutely bring a claim under what's called the Federal Tort Claims Act," he said. "We've sort of focused so much on this [$1.8 billion] slush fund, but the reality is, even without the slush fund, people who have been wronged by the federal government can put in legal claims and get paid."

The Federal Tort Claims Act permits individuals to sue the federal government for damages caused by negligent or wrongful acts of federal employees — a mechanism that typically bars jury trials and caps certain damages but remains a primary avenue for holding agencies financially accountable.

Honig emphasized the personal toll on Hearn, who was publicly indicted before the case fell apart.

"Here you have a guy who was indicted, who was dragged through the limelight by prosecutors, and now they say, we never had the evidence," Honig said. "He's got a very strong claim, if and when he makes that claim."

Honig suggested that other individuals targeted by the Trump administration could pursue similar legal claims against the Department of Justice. The remarks come amid broader scrutiny of the DOJ's prosecutorial decisions under the current administration, including high-profile cases that have drawn accusations of political motivation.

"Since almost the beginning of this administration, it's been remarkable to me that so much focus has been on the slush fund, as it should, and the Epstein files, as it should, but almost none on this weaponization," Honig said. "This guy is not the first. There's a long and growing list of people who have been prosecuted largely for political purposes, and in those cases have all collapsed. That's all on [acting attorney general Todd] Blanche, but none of it seems to have stuck to him."

Source: CNN via YouTube