Donald Trump has faced a string of setbacks in recent days, with even close allies pulling back from personal and political battles he has championed. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped felony destruction of property charges against former Olympian David Hearn over damage to Washington's Reflecting Pool, concluding it stemmed from a "botched installation" rather than vandalism, despite Trump publicly insisting otherwise. Separately, his nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, hit resistance in the Senate over a proposed compensation fund for people who claimed to be targets of politicised prosecutions.

Pirro's 20-page court filing blamed misleading information from the Department of the Interior for the original charges, prompting Trump to brand her decision a climbdown, saying she "folded like an umbrella." Meanwhile, Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis had joined Democrats in blocking Blanche's confirmation as permanent attorney general unless he disavowed the proposed $1.8bn fund, which Tillis dubbed a "payout pot for punks" over fears it could compensate people prosecuted for the 2021 Capitol riot; Blanche eventually withdrew the plan to secure the senators' backing, though Trump has vowed to revive it through separate legislation.