Hearn weighs legal action after reflecting pool case collapses

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn is weighing legal action after federal prosecutors dropped a felony vandalism charge tied to damage at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying the peeling liner was caused by faulty installation rather than vandalism.

Hearn, 67, was arrested June 19 and charged with property destruction after he stopped at the reflecting pool during a bike ride. The charge could have carried a prison sentence of up to 10 years. He denied wrongdoing.

His attorney Steven Levin said “all options are on table” after prosecutors moved Friday to dismiss the case. Levin said Hearn “has a number of potential remedies,” including “civil suits, bar referrals for the prosecutors involved, request for sanctions and reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and expenses,” as well as requests for investigations by government entities, including Congress.

The case followed a $14 million project backed by President Donald Trump’s administration to change the reflecting pool’s color to what officials described as “American flag blue.” Soon after the new liner was installed, parts of it began peeling and floating on the surface, and algae turned the water green. Trump blamed vandals.

Several people were arrested or cited over suspected damage, according to Al Jazeera, while The Guardian reported that four people were arrested and only Hearn was charged with a felony. The pool has since been drained.

Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Hearn’s indictment at a July 2 news conference, accusing him of “forcefully and violently” ripping the newly installed liner. She called the alleged conduct “an affront to the dignity of our shared history.”

But in a 20-page filing in D.C. Superior Court on Friday, prosecutors said documents from the Department of the Interior, received after the indictment, showed the damage was “the result of flawed installation by the contractor.” Pirro wrote that her office had been working from “barebones police reports” and that later Interior Department records pointed to “a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling of the lining throughout the reflecting pool.”

“The rush to complete the project led to hasty and botched work that was not remediated before the project was finished and the fencing removed,” Pirro wrote, according to Al Jazeera. The filing cited delayed installation work, inclement weather and repeated testing failures before Independence Day events marking the country’s 250th anniversary.

Trump has rejected that conclusion. He said Pirro “choked” and “folded like an umbrella,” and wrote on Truth Social: “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the reflecting pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.” He also said after the dismissal that “Pirro made a mistake. It was vandalism.”

CNN reported, according to Al Jazeera, that Trump considered firing Pirro but held back after speaking with her by phone Saturday and meeting her in person Monday. Neither the White House nor Pirro’s office commented, Al Jazeera reported.

Hearn told The Associated Press he was detained by the National Guard and U.S. Park Police for five hours after stopping to look at the pool. He said he briefly touched a piece of liner attached to the side. He told NBC News the pool’s condition “was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there.”

Hearn’s attorneys have said the government “owes Mr Hearn an apology” and have asked prosecutors to disclose the legal instructions given to grand jurors. They said grand jury transcripts disclosed so far contain “irregularities” suggesting a misleading presentation.

The Justice Department dismissed the charge without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled. Levin said Hearn’s team will seek dismissal with prejudice so he is “not longer at risk of being harassed by the government further.” Attorney Norm Eisen told The Wall Street Journal: “All legal remedies are on the table going forward to respond to the miscarriage of justice.”