All posts tagged "david hearn"

'Fatal' DOJ concession flagged that torpedoed Trump's Reflecting Pool case

The Justice Department is trying to revive its case against David Hearn despite admitting that it cannot prove he damaged the Reflecting Pool.

Legal analyst Adam Klasfeld offered updates on the DOJ's efforts after a judge grilled prosecutors during a hearing on Friday. Writing for All Rise News the same day, Klasfeld noted that the DOJ's concession that it can't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hearn damaged the Reflecting Pool has proved "fatal."

D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman asked DOJ prosecutors why they want to revive the case against Hearn.

"Why isn't the threat of harassment faced by Mr. Hearn completely different from prosecutions in a normal case?" Edelman asked, per Klasfeld.

Last month, Edelman dismissed Hearn's indictment after admissions by the Trump administration made the case unsustainable, Klasfeld noted. Edelman considered throwing out the case against Hearn "with prejudice" on Friday, which would mean the DOJ can no longer bring cases against Hearn for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool, according to Klasfeld.

The Trump administration already conceded that the damage to the Reflecting Pool resulted from a "botched installation and not vandalism," Klasfeld wrote. The peeling of the pool's sealant was caused by an "over-spray," and a National Park Service engineer cut the sealant with a knife to contain the damage, Klasfeld wrote, noting admissions by the Trump administration.

A felony vandalism charge requires proof of damages for at least $1,000, and Edelman seemed to weigh that during Friday's hearing, Klasfeld noted.

"The Justice Department concedes it cannot prove that prong of the case beyond a reasonable doubt," Klasfeld wrote. "And that concession seemed fatal to the judge."

Edelman asked DOJ prosecutors, "What future prosecution could ever occur?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence told him the question would require "speculation."

When asked whether DOJ is currently investigating Hearn, Spence said, "No," adding, "Ten minutes from now that decision could change."

'It's so unbelievable': Lawyer floored as Trump DOJ seeks to revive case without evidence

A lawyer who stood up to the Department of Justice and won in a high-profile case expressed shock when talking about it being revived.

During an appearance on CNN on Tuesday night, lawyer Norm Eisen spoke about the possibility of President Donald Trump's DOJ bringing back the case against Olympic canoer David Hearn, who was accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. The case was dismissed last week, as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, led by Jeanine Pirro, said that the damage happened during installation.

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins asked Eisen about the possibility of the Trump DOJ bringing the case back, despite Pirro saying that the evidence pointed to a botched installation by the Interior Department, not Hearn, who constantly denied allegations that he ripped up the pool's liner.

"If there are charges brought against him again, I mean, would you use Jeanine Pirro's filing to fight those charges?" Collins asked. "Wouldn't that be the word of the DOJ versus the DOJ?"

Eisen laughed, agreeing with the absurdity. "It's so unbelievable," Eisen said. "They said in that filing that there was no evidence beyond a reasonable doubt because the damage was caused by a botched and rushed installation."

If the DOJ follows through, "The very first thing that the judge, if charges are brought again, is the words of the U.S. attorney's office blaming the Department of the Interior," Eisen said.

Eisen brought up that he used to work as President Barack Obama's special counsel and recalled a memo that said, "The president could not interfere with or intervene in enforcement cases precisely to avoid this kind of thing."

He continued, "So the outrageousness of it, it won't stand in a court of law if it comes back, and I assume the reason we read about it today in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere is because people in the DOJ are as horrified as I am."

'It's just not right!' David Hearn speaks out after Trump DOJ drops 'absurd' case

The Olympian whom President Donald Trump blamed for vandalizing the Reflecting Pool had strong words for the Department of Justice.

During an appearance on CNN, David Hearn discussed the Trump DOJ's attempt to charge him criminally for vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. Hearn was arrested after touching a part of the pool's detached liner, but U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped the charges against him. Critics considered the case an attempt to scapegoat Trump's failed renovations.

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins asked Hearn what he thinks of Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum pushing the narrative that he vandalized the pool by insisting the DOJ had evidence, including eyewitness testimony and camera footage, proving it.

"What is your reaction to hearing a senior official in the government still say that it was vandalism?" Collins asked.

"It's very unsettling. It's not the United States of America that I know," the former Olympian responded. "It's not the United States of America that I represented in many competitions overseas, including three Olympic games and 13 world championships. It's just not right. It has to be rejected."

Collins then asked Hearn what he would say to the average American watching the interview. Hearn responded by giving a bleak warning.

"This can happen to anybody. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody. Nobody is immune to this kind of government lawlessness, essentially," Hearn said. "It's really the kind of thing that, you know, a country ruled by a dictator - that's where you see that kind of thing, and this isn't."

Hearn kept a patriotic tone, however, as he insisted, "This is not the land of the free and the home of the brave that I know." He also praised "the amount of support I received," saying, "That's been fantastic," and that he smiled when he saw "I have all these people behind me."

Reflecting Pool scapegoat case implodes as DOJ humiliatingly backs down

In an admission of error, the Trump Justice Department withdrew criminal charges against an Olympic canoeist accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Justice Department prosecutors acknowledged in a court filing that contrary to the assertions they made that David 'Davey' Hearn had damaged the iconic landmark, "damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor," Meidas Touch's Scott MacFarlane reported.

The DOJ further admitted they have new information "showing that the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by [the Department of the Interior]."

It's an abrupt end to a trial that was plagued with prosecutorial missteps throughout.

Trump's renovation of the Reflecting Pool was announced to great fanfare, with the president complaining that under previous presidents it was full of trash. However, after the pool was painted and sealed, it was taken over by a massive algal bloom. This prompted maintenance workers to dump vast amounts of hydrogen peroxide, which resulted in the lining starting to peel and break.

Trump claimed this damage was the result of a "gash" in the monument inflicted by political protesters, but no evidence of such a gash was found when the pool was drained for remedial maintenance.

Trump's Reflecting Pool vandalism claim gets legal check: 'Rushed and poorly conceived'

The Trump administration has been accused of concealing evidence disproving, as they claim, that the Washington, D.C. Reflecting Pool was attacked by vandals, court records show.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation on Thursday filed an emergency motion against the Interior department to preserve evidence protected by a large fence while the Reflecting Pool is drained, Legal AF's Michael Popok reported Saturday.

"They just don't want to admit that they effed up the job because they didn't competitively bid it," Popok said of the Trump administration. "They didn't involve scientists."

The Reflecting Pool was drained after July 4 following controversial renovations that left it green. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum argued this was an effort to "clean up the fireworks stuff" and "repair the [alleged] vandalism" to the pool's broken liner.

But the preservationists contend the Reflecting Pool's ruined state is "the product of Defendants' rushed and poorly conceived plans."

The drained pool provides "a unique but temporary opportunity" to collect and preserve evidence to support this contention, the motion argued.

It requests the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia allow access to the dry basin, mostly to take photos, before it is refilled.

"Unfortunately, Defendants have erected a fence around the Reflecting Pool and generally prohibit members of the public (including undersigned counsel) from approaching the Pool or the sidewalk surrounding it," the motion reads. "Within days, Defendants will make additional modifications to the basin and then fill it with water."

Refilling the Reflecting Pool means "forever eliminating" the chance to document the pool's current state and "destroying potentially relevant evidence," the motion argued.

The Trump administration notably indicted former Olympic canoeist David Hearn on a felony destruction-of-property charge for allegedly ripping up part of the pool's liner. One of his attorneys is from the same firm that filed the Cultural Landscape Foundation's motion.

Popok called the case against Hearn absurd.

"I think the judge here is itching to dismiss the indictment," he said. "It's a ridiculous indictment."

'Smells really bad': Legal expert flattens Jeanine Pirro's latest prosecution attempt

A legal expert pulled apart the Trump administration's prosecution of a U.S. Olympian accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool.

During an appearance on CNN, Ryan Goodman, a former Pentagon lawyer and the editor-in-chief of Just Security, said that the case, led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, "smells really bad."

Goodman blasted Pirro's claim that her office would prosecute Olympic canoeist David Hearn based on "evidence" that he vandalized the pool. Hearn said he reached into the pool and touched a piece of detached liner, but didn't actually remove it.

"I wish I could believe her that it was just according to the evidence and not according to the president's behest," Goodman said. "But there's a pattern."

Hearn was originally given a misdemeanor citation in June, and "the next day, the president of the United States said that for people committing that act, they need to spend years in jail," Goodman noted.

"The only way you spend years in jail is if you committed a felony," he explained. "And then a couple of days later, the president of the United States said that people who committed these acts can spend up to ten years in jail. And then lo and behold, we have the shock that the man has been charged with a felony and up to ten years in jail."

Goodman also pointed to Pirro's criminal investigation against former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as evidence of a "pattern" that she follows Trump's orders.

"She also, in her office, tried to bring seditious conspiracy charges against members of Congress because the president of the United States said that they made a video about the military not having to follow unlawful orders," Goodman said, referring to an incident earlier this year.

He said the case against Hearn "smells really bad" because "it's in lockstep with the president," as in other similar cases.

'Not you!' Jeanine Pirro snaps at reporter during indictment announcement

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro snapped at a reporter asking about Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol during a press conference Thursday announcing a federal indictment against a three-time Olympic athlete who was arrested last month after allegedly touching the detached paint of the $14 million renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

David Hearn, who was indicted by a grand jury after his arrest, now faces up to 10 years in prison, Pirro said.

Pirro made the announcement and started taking questions from press when a reporter tried to raise the question.

"How can you square charging this alleged vandal when this DOJ has...," the reporter asked, before Pirro cut him off.

"Already this is a problem," Pirro said.

"Over 1,000 January 6 rioters caused millions of damage — ," he continued.

Pirro interjected and yelled back.

"Are you really talking about January 6? I'm not. Who's next? Not you! No!"

Q: How can you square charging this alleged vandal when this DOJ has--

PIRRO: Already this is a problem

Q: Over 1,000 January 6 rioters who caused millions of damage--

PIRRO: Are you really talking about January 6? I'm not. Who's next. Not you! No! pic.twitter.com/YVu96wcVJM
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 2, 2026

Olympian arrested for touching remnants of decaying Reflecting Pool: report

A three-time Olympic athlete was arrested for touching the detached paint of the renovated Reflecting Pool, according to the Washington Post.

Olympian David Hearn, who competed three times in the canoe slalom, stopped by the Reflecting Pool on Friday after a bike ride to see how it looks since Trump's $14 million renovations, the Post reported. The Reflecting Pool is currently plagued with murky green algae blooms, and paint is coming off after workers dumped hydrogen peroxide in it to combat the algae.

According to the Post, Hearn reached into the Reflecting Pool to feel a piece of partially detached paint from the bottom, and moments later, U.S. Park Police officers arrested him on the misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.

"I didn't vandalize anything," Hearn told the Post, adding that he just wanted to feel stripping paint. "I didn't destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs."

Trump has already accused "Radical Left Lunatics" and ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl of trying to destroy the pool as reporting on the peeling paint emerged, MS Now reported.

Hearn's arrest was recorded and posted on social media by conservative journalist Emily Miller. Three officers can be seen holding and handcuffing the 67-year-old Hearn.

Miller described the scene as "Man arrested for vandalizing Lincoln Reflecting Pool. He grabbed the hose that female National Park Service workers were using to clear the algae." Meanwhile, in the comments, people described him as a "leftist boomer," and an "a—."

"I didn't remove anything," Hearn reiterated to the Post. "I reached in there, and I was able to grab the end of that flapping piece, the already peeling piece. It was still attached to the bottom."

Hearn is now due to appear in D.C. Superior Court on July 9, per the Post.