David Hearn was handcuffed, publicly branded a vandal and threatened with as many as 10 years in prison after the Trump administration accused him of tearing apart the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Now the prosecution has collapsed—and the government’s own court filing points to a very different culprit.
Flawed installation.
Federal prosecutors moved Friday to dismiss the felony case against Hearn, a 67-year-old former Olympic canoeist who insisted from the beginning that he had merely touched a piece of lining that was already peeling from the pool.
The Justice Department’s reversal was extraordinary.
Only weeks earlier, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro had announced Hearn’s indictment at a press conference, declaring that prosecutors would prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had willfully damaged the national landmark.
But documents subsequently obtained from the Interior Department revealed repeated failures during the installation of the pool’s new lining. The renovation had also been rushed to completion before events celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, prosecutors said.
“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” Pirro’s office acknowledged.
According to the dismissal filing, a National Park Service engineer had raised concerns about vulnerable coating near the pool’s perimeter shortly after the work was completed—the same general area Hearn was accused of damaging. Prosecutors said the additional records significantly undermined the evidence supporting his indictment. ABC News reviewed the filing and detailed the installation failures.
Hearn’s attorneys responded with fury.
“The Trump administration’s case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought,” Norm Eisen, Mary Dohrmann and Steve Levin said in a joint statement.
They called the prosecution an abuse of government power and described its approach as “ready, fire, aim.”
“The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology,” they added.
The dismissal does not automatically establish malicious prosecution or entitle Hearn to compensation. Prosecutors asked that the indictment be dismissed without prejudice, technically leaving open the possibility that charges could be brought again.
But Hearn’s lawyers made clear that the dispute may not be finished.
“This is far from over, as we consider all legal remedies,” they said.
The case began amid growing embarrassment over the condition of Trump’s signature Reflecting Pool renovation.
Trump announced the project in April, promising to restore the landmark before the July Fourth celebrations. The resurfacing contract was awarded without competitive bidding to Atlantic Industrial Coatings as officials raced to meet the deadline.
The renovation ultimately cost more than $14 million, according to federal contracting records cited by ABC News. Within days of its completion, the new surface reportedly began peeling and the water turned green with algae.
Trump blamed vandals.
Hearn, who competed for the United States in three Olympic Games, said he stopped during a bicycle ride and reached into the water to examine material that had already detached. Instead of finding the source of a construction failure, authorities arrested him.
The government initially treated the incident as a misdemeanor. Prosecutors then elevated it into a felony, secured a grand jury indictment and warned that Hearn faced up to a decade behind bars.
Pirro’s office now says it did not receive the decisive information about the defective work until after that indictment.
Hearn’s lawyers reject that explanation. They argue their filings had repeatedly presented evidence that the renovation—not their client—was responsible for the pool’s deterioration.
The reversal has also triggered an open conflict inside the Trump administration.
Trump publicly declared that he disagreed “100%” with Pirro and continued to insist that the pool had been vandalized. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum likewise maintained that vandals had repeatedly caused damage and said his department supplied prosecutors with expert and eyewitness evidence.
But the Justice Department’s filing said the newly produced Interior Department records undermined the evidentiary basis for Hearn’s indictment. The peeling occurred throughout the pool, including in areas inaccessible to visitors, strengthening the conclusion that the installation itself was defective. The Associated Press reported that Trump’s video did not clearly establish Hearn’s responsibility.
The clash leaves Pirro in an unusual position.
She initially promoted the case as proof that the administration would defend national monuments aggressively. Now Trump is attacking her for accepting evidence that contradicted the prosecution she once championed.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility has called for a congressional investigation into the project’s contracting, construction and failed attempt to attribute the damage to vandalism.
Its executive director, Tim Whitehouse, argued that competitive bidding and transparency exist precisely to prevent expensive public failures. His allegations of corruption and self-dealing remain demands for investigation, not established judicial findings.
What is established is the sequence.
The administration rushed a costly renovation. The new surface began failing. Trump blamed vandals. Federal authorities arrested an Olympian, elevated his case to a felony and threatened him with years in prison.
Then government records revealed that the pool’s damage was associated with rushed, defective installation.
Hearn walked away without the prosecution hanging over him—but not without reputational damage, legal expense and the memory of being placed in handcuffs for touching a surface that was already falling apart.
Trump wanted someone punished for the Reflecting Pool fiasco.
After the case collapsed, the evidence stopped pointing at David Hearn—and began pointing back at the administration that charged him.
