CNN anchor Erin Burnett said she was "stunned" Friday after the Trump Justice Department withdrew criminal charges against an Olympic canoeist accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
The DOJ made its announcement that it would drop charges against David 'Davey' Hearn just as Burnett was speaking with former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) and political consultant Karen Finney.
"U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office admitted in a new filing, this is really important that they learned after filing the charges against Hearn that 'damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, and the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration," Burnett said.
"Karen, Wow. Wow," Burnett said. "They're, they're actually saying it. They're dropping it; there's all this stuff that this guy went out there and slashed it and cut it and that was all a load of b.s. and they're actually not just admitting it by pulling the case, but they're saying it was shoddy construction."
Finney called out the Trump administration for the "lack of seriousness," referring to the ordeal as "staggering" and "a real embarrassment."
Dent suggested that there should be repercussions.
"In this country we have a tradition of investigating incidents like this prior to making charging decisions," Dent said. "And in this case, it's clear that charging decisions were made prior to any kind of a thorough investigation. And now they've admitted it. I mean, it's amazing. You would think that somebody would be fired over this. Maybe the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., they could actually put her name out there and announce charges against this individual, only to announce several weeks later that there's no there there."
Dent called out the Trump DOJ, citing his concerns.
"I'm astounded that this is how law enforcement and our Justice Department is operating," he said. "And it's not just in this case; we've seen it in many other cases where they've engaged in malicious prosecutions of people for what appear to be politically motivated purposes."
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