Olympic canoeist David Hearn will not face felony charges for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro moved to dismiss the indictment on Friday, citing new evidence that the damage was caused by a contractor's botched work, not by Hearn.
The case, reported by CNBC, began in early July when Pirro announced charges at a press conference, saying Hearn had "violently" ripped up part of the pool's liner with his bare hands. Hearn, 67, is a former Olympian. His attorneys had accused the Trump administration of making him a "scapegoat" for a troubled and expensive renovation that President Donald Trump had repeatedly boasted about publicly.
After the pool appeared to continue leaking following its renovation, Trump repeatedly claimed, without providing evidence, that vandals had cut a gash hundreds of feet long along the bottom. Prosecutors presented a grand jury with evidence based on initial reports from the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Park Police pointing to vandalism. That grand jury returned an indictment against Hearn.
But after the indictment, the Interior Department provided additional documents. Those documents showed the damage occurring in June was the result of what Pirro's filing called "flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings." Pirro also pointed to what she called "the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026" as a contributing factor.
In her court filing, Pirro wrote that her office received information and evidence after the charges were filed that "significantly undermine the evidentiary basis for the indictment." She said a "botched installation" was to blame.
Four days before the dismissal, Hearn's attorneys had filed their own court document stating that the government's key grand-jury witness "testified that the property was already damaged before Mr. Hearn allegedly touched it." Those same attorneys had also asked for disclosure of information the government gave the grand jury before it decided to charge Hearn. Pirro's decision to drop the case may prevent that information from becoming public.
Asked for additional comment, the U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. told CNBC, "The motion speaks for itself."
Hearn's attorneys, Norm Eisen, Mary Dohrmann, and Steve Levin, issued a statement to CNBC. "The Trump administration's case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought," they wrote. "Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong." They added, "The government's approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology."
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
