WASHINGTON – The Justice Department faced significant scrutiny over its case against David Hearn, a former Olympian charged with intentionally damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Defense lawyers contended that the government knew, or should have known, for weeks that the case was fundamentally flawed and that Hearn bore no responsibility for any existing issues at the landmark.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro took decisive action on Friday by moving to dismiss the indictment against Hearn. In a comprehensive 20-page filing, her office revealed new evidence from the Interior Department indicating that Hearn was not responsible for the damage to the pool’s lining. Instead, the report attributed the damage to a poorly executed installation by a contractor and a hasty completion of the project, which was rushed in anticipation of events related to the America 250 celebration around July 4, as per directives from President Donald Trump.
In light of the dismissal, Hearn’s legal team urged a judge to permanently drop the case, emphasizing that the Trump administration should not have the opportunity to revive it. They challenged Pirro’s statement that prosecutors only recently discovered the pool’s pre-existing defects, arguing that the government had overlooked readily available evidence showing that the liner was already compromised due to installation errors.
“From the outset, the evidence showed that the pool liner was already failing and that Mr. Hearn did not cause the damage alleged in the indictment,” Hearn’s legal team asserted in a 28-page motion submitted to D.C. Superior Court. They highlighted that the deteriorating condition of the pool was “plainly visible” for weeks, with extensive documentation available through photographs, videos, and news reports.
The defense criticized the government’s approach, stating, “Defying both decency and common sense, the government proceeded to indict Mr. Hearn before it had obtained or evaluated the information necessary to establish a good-faith basis for the charge.” Furthermore, they pointed out that a crucial eyewitness was never presented to the grand jury, and a key witness for the prosecution admitted that the necessary repairs would have been needed regardless of Hearn’s alleged actions, failing to establish any additional costs attributed to him.
The contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings of Virginia, which received a no-bid contract worth $14.7 million to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor, had publicly acknowledged prior to Hearn’s indictment that parts of the project required repair. This acknowledgment raised further questions about the validity of the charges against Hearn.
A spokesperson for Pirro’s office did not respond to requests for comment regarding the case. Meanwhile, Trump continued to assert that the pool had been vandalized and defended the contractors involved, stating, “They did a beautiful job. There were a couple of little things, but that was not a big deal. And everybody saw the vandalism. All you have to do is look at the tape.” Trump also expressed his disagreement with Pirro’s assertions, while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum echoed his claims regarding the vandalism.
The dismissal of charges against Hearn represents a significant setback for the Justice Department and illustrates a rare instance during Trump’s second term where a political appointee or aide openly contradicted the president’s stance. Hearn maintained that he was merely on a bike ride on June 19 when he touched a piece of the pool’s degraded coating after being instructed to do so by a park worker.
Initially facing felony charges that could have resulted in a 10-year prison sentence, the defense argued that the government failed to conduct a meaningful investigation into whether Hearn could have caused any damage to the Reflecting Pool. The ongoing developments in this case reveal not only the complexities of the legal proceedings but also the implications of political influence and accountability in the administration of justice.
