A government engineer cut the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool's liner with a knife — the same act President Donald Trump blamed on vandals, a new court filing contends.
The filing, submitted Monday in D.C. Superior Court on behalf of former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, asks a judge to permanently bar the government from prosecuting him again.
Hearn's attorneys say the case against him was politically motivated from the start.
"The government's own evidence showed that the condition of the liner attributed to Mr. Hearn existed before he touched the Pool," the filing says.
Hearn stopped at the pool during a 50-mile bike ride on June 19 and touched a piece of already-loose coating to examine it, he told the Associated Press. He said he went "to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen."
Trump spent weeks insisting vandals with knives had sliced open the liner.
His estimate of the alleged damage grew with each retelling — from 250 feet to 300 feet, then 350 feet, and eventually "300 yards long," Forbes reported.
"The sprint to charge Mr. Hearn mirrored the expedited timeline to complete the Pool renovations," his attorneys wrote in the filing.
On July 13, federal agents photographed damage throughout the pool while a National Park Service engineer accompanied them, the filing says.
"The engineer told the agents that he had personally cut loose liner or coating with a knife to prevent the peeling from worsening," the filing says.
"The government's own engineer determined that it was better to cut off the peeling sections than to let them flap around," it adds.
On July 31, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro moved to drop the case, NBC News reported, acknowledging the damage came from a "botched installation," not vandalism.
Trump later said Pirro "choked" and "folded like an umbrella."
Sources told CNN he had been "furious" with her all weekend and was considering removing her. She later visited the White House carrying an evidence box.
Hearn's attorneys warn he remains exposed to "harassment based on the same discredited allegations" as long as the case can be reopened — particularly because Trump has publicly stated he disagrees with the dismissal and continues to insist it was vandalism.
No judge has yet ruled on whether to permanently close the case against Hearn.
