White House officials have asked the Justice Department to explore whether a new criminal case can be brought against David Hearn, the former Olympian who was accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial's Reflecting Pool. Federal prosecutors had moved to dismiss the indictment against him earlier this month after new evidence pointed to contractor error, not vandalism, as the cause of the damage.
According to CBS News, the conversations between the White House and the Criminal Division took place last week. The discussions focused on whether the case could be brought as a misdemeanor, which would not require convening a grand jury. The discussions were described as exploratory, and no decision was made.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, had originally charged Hearn with felony destruction of government property. Prosecutors alleged he caused more than $1,000 in damage to sealant recently installed at the bottom of the Reflecting Pool, a project championed by President Trump. But earlier this month, prosecutors moved to dismiss the indictment without prejudice after concluding the damage was caused by a "botched installation" by a contractor.
Trump pushed back hard on that conclusion. "There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!" he wrote on Truth Social. He also directed criticism at Pirro herself. "I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool," Trump wrote. "I don't know what she was thinking?"
After a weekend of criticism from Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Pirro was spotted visiting the White House carrying a box of evidence. Sources said the boxes contained evidence collected from the Interior Department that exculpated Hearn and several other defendants from criminal vandalism charges.
A D.C. Superior Court judge formally dismissed the case last week but did not rule on whether to dismiss with or without prejudice. That distinction matters because it could affect whether the current felony case can be revived. Additional briefing in the case is scheduled for late summer and early fall.
After dropping Hearn's charges, prosecutors also moved to dismiss charges against three other defendants who faced misdemeanors for allegedly damaging the pool, with each accused of destroying property valued at less than $1,000.
Michael Bromwich, an attorney representing Hearn, said in a statement to CBS News that it was "truly difficult to understand the enormous effort apparently being spent on reviving a case that was dead on arrival." He added that "the case was dismissed because there was no evidence to support charging Mr. Hearn."
The case now awaits further court proceedings scheduled for later this fall, with the question of prejudice still unresolved.
