The Trump Department of Justice is engaging in what one Democrat described as a "Kafkaesque" prosecution of an Olympic canoeist for allegedly damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
David Hearn, who competed in three Olympics in his career, appeared in court on Thursday to face a single felony charge of destruction of property causing damage of $1,000 or more. The Trump DOJ has accused him of ripping the bottom coat of paint off the newly renovated pool. Hearn entered a plea of not guilty.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday that the Trump administration's prosecution of Hearn was alarming because it revealed how far they were willing to look the other way on corruption within the administration.
"He's being swept up in an absolute Kafkaesque and Orwellian prosecution where he apparently ... touched some of the peeling paint," Raskin said, referring to the evidence presented against Hearn. "He didn't even rip it off or anything, but he touched it when he stopped there on his bike, and then suddenly was the subject of an arrest."
Hearn's prosecution is happening at a time when other administration officials, such as FBI Director Kash Patel, are facing growing criticism. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) demanded that Patel answer why the FBI spent money on BMW vehicles during Patel's tenure at the agency in a formal letter published on Thursday.
"While we're watching corruption unfold, including at the FBI and at the White House, for hundreds of millions of dollars, they are attacking and prosecuting one of my constituents for basically the act of putting his hand in the water at the Reflecting Pool," Raskin said.
