WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro moved Friday to dismiss charges against a former Olympian canoeist alleged to have damaged part of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Pirro had charged David Hearn, of Bethesda, Maryland, with destruction of property of more than $1,000 for allegedly vandalizing the newly refinished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19. President Donald Trump, who has overseen the multi-million-dollar renovation of the Reflecting Pool, blamed vandals for damage to it.

But in a 20-page motion to dismiss filed by the U.S. attorney’s office, Pirro said her office wouldn’t have sought charges if the Interior Department, which manages the Lincoln Memorial, had initially shared more information about repair work on the Reflecting Pool.

Instead, the department only recently disclosed findings that Pirro said “strongly suggest that a rushed and botched installation by (Atlantic Industrial Coatings), the primary contractor, led to the damage to the lining of the Reflecting Pool.” 

That information was not known by prosecutors or the grand jury that returned an indictment of Hearn, she said.

Information withheld

She said it was not until her office “reached out to DOI dozens and dozens of times that DOI slowly started trickling information to USAO-DC. Had DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.”

Pirro related: “Specifically, the newly released documents reveal that work on installing the lining almost immediately fell behind, due to a combination of very rainy and windy weather, repeated failures of testing on the sealing of the expansion joints, and delays in obtaining sealing product at the worksite. The rush to complete the project led to hasty and botched work that was not remediated before the project was finished and the fencing removed.”

Pirro said that “almost immediately after work was initially completed, peeling was observed along the pool perimeter.” 

A National Park Service engineer’s June 11, 2026, email “stated that the cause of the damage was contractor error via ‘overspray’; that the peeled lining would not float; and that the peeling would ‘not impact the strength of the liner,’” she said.

“Moreover, the July 20, 2026, inspection by contractors confirmed that overspray and delamination had occurred, again pointing to contractor error,” Pirro said. “Finally, a recent visual inspection showed damage throughout the Reflecting Pool, even in the middle of the pool, where a vandal would not likely attempt to peel the lining. 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.”

Apology owed?

Hearn on July 9 pleaded not guilty during a brief court hearing and was released on his own recognizance. 

His lawyers, Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Fund, Mary Dohrmann of the Washington Litigation Group and Steve Levin of Steptoe LLP, said in a statement on Friday night that the government owes Hearn an apology for pursuing the case. 

“The Trump administration’s case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought,” they said. “Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology.”

Hearn’s lawyers earlier this week had asked the judge in the case to release more information from the grand jury. 

They wrote in a motion that “the Government’s sole grand-jury witness on damages testified that the property was already damaged before Mr. Hearn allegedly touched it; that the same repairs would have been required regardless of Mr. Hearn’s conduct; and that he could not quantify any loss attributable to that conduct.” 

In a June 21 statement on its website, Atlantic Industrial Coatings defended its work on the Reflecting Pool.

“Atlantic Industrial Coatings in conjunction with the US Park Service has identified some areas in the Reflecting Pool that require repairs. These areas are a very small part of the massive 7 acre project, and do not indicate a failure of the liner,” it said.

“These repairs can not be made until the pool is drained. As soon as its feasible for the Park, the pool will be drained and AIC will be back to make those needed repairs as part of the warranty.”

The company did not immediately return a request for comment. The Department of Interior also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WASHINGTON — Attorneys representing the former Olympic canoeist charged with damaging part of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool have asked the judge in the case to release more information from the grand jury. 

David Hearn’s legal team wrote in a motion that “the Government’s sole grand-jury witness on damages testified that the property was already damaged before Mr. Hearn allegedly touched it; that the same repairs would have been required regardless of Mr. Hearn’s conduct; and that he could not quantify any loss attributable to that conduct.” 

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro charged Hearn, of Bethesda, Maryland, with destruction of property of more than $1,000 for allegedly vandalizing the newly refinished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19. President Donald Trump, who has closely overseen the multi-million-dollar renovation of the Reflecting Pool, has blamed vandals for damage to it.

Hearn on July 9 pleaded not guilty during a brief court hearing and was released on his own recognizance. 

In the latest motion, the three lawyers defending Hearn asked the judge to release the legal instructions given to the grand jury and a transcript or notes of all grand jury proceedings in the case. 

Mary L. Dohrmann, principal attorney at Washington Litigation Group, Steve Levin, senior counsel at Steptoe LLP and Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, wrote in the brief the testimony from the one witness raised questions about whether the grand jury understood the legal standard to charge someone with a felony for destruction of property greater than $1,000. 

While grand jury deliberations are normally private, the lawyers wrote a rule “authorizes disclosure of the grand jury materials needed to determine whether a ground exists to dismiss the indictment.”

They argue in the motion the National Park Service official who testified in front of the grand jury didn’t say that Hearn caused that level of damage. 

“The witness’s testimony established that the pool had substantial preexisting damage requiring repair before any alleged conduct by Mr. Hearn,” the lawyers wrote. “According to the witness, the pool was leaking more than one million gallons of water per week; its expansion joints had exceeded their service life; and the liner already contained a rip.

“The government’s witness further confirmed that repairs were already necessary to address those conditions.”

That NPS official said repairs costing between $6,000 and $15,000 would have been needed regardless of whether Hearn “interacted with the pool,” according to the motion. 

The transcripts prosecutors shared with Hearn’s legal team so far “contain other irregularities that reflect a misleading presentation to the grand jury and a need for review of the entire grand jury record in this matter.”

“For one, the government failed to present the widely available photograph, discussed in Mr. Hearn’s Rule 41(g) Motion, that by the government’s own account was taken by Mr. Hearn before he ever touched the Reflecting Pool—and, accordingly, proves that he caused no damage to the pool,” the legal team wrote. “In addition, the government failed to present its central witness against Mr. Hearn to the grand jury, instead submitting that witness’s hearsay statements through an investigator, who emphasized that it ‘was not a sworn statement’ that he took from the witness.”

Hearn’s legal team added that the information they have so far about the grand jury process “raises the issue of whether the government should have known it was presenting false or misleading testimony to the grand jury.” 

WASHINGTON — A D.C. Superior Court judge on Monday encouraged the Trump administration to preserve the sections of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that it says a Maryland man damaged to ensure the case moves forward. 

Associate Judge Todd E. Edelman warned during a status hearing in the case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn that the government may be “operating at its own peril” if it does not preserve the pool for the defense attorneys and their expert to examine and test. 

Edelman questioned why the Trump administration couldn’t “maintain the status quo” for the rest of the week to ensure access to the evidence doesn’t become an “issue in this trial.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Reddington said the Interior Department was in the middle of remedial work on the Reflecting Pool after draining it. 

Reddington said prosecutors “certainly asked them to hold the site as a whole,” but added he doesn’t have control over whether they do. 

Edelman then encouraged the “government to not do anything further” on the Reflecting Pool before denying without prejudice Hearn’s defense team’s motion to dismiss the case. He said the effort was “entirely premature” but didn’t prevent the lawyers’ from filing a different motion to dismiss in the future. 

Mary Dohrmann, a principal at Washington Litigation Group and one of Hearn’s lawyers, wrote in the motion to dismiss the “Constitution simply does not permit the government to charge a man with destroying an object, retain exclusive custody of that object, and then drain, disturb, and alter the object before the defense may examine it, despite a written demand for its preservation.”

“And yet that is what has happened here,” Dohrmann added. “The government’s failure to preserve this evidence, in the face of an express demand no less, has destroyed Mr. Hearn’s ability to collect evidence material to his defense on multiple elements of the charged offense. Dismissal is the only appropriate remedy in view of the government’s actions.”

Edelman scheduled a readiness hearing for Sept. 11 and set the trial to begin on Sept. 28. 

WASHINGTON — The former U.S Olympian charged with damaging a section of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool pleaded not guilty during a brief court hearing Thursday and was released on his own recognizance. 

D.C. Superior Court Associate Judge Carmen Guerricagoitia McLean, who is presiding over the felony case against David C. Hearn, scheduled a status hearing for Aug. 5. McLean was nominated by President Barack Obama and, when that nomination expired, by President Donald Trump.

Mary L. Dohrmann, senior counsel at the Washington Litigation Group and a member of Hearn’s legal team, said during the arraignment hearing that he is an “upstanding citizen and member of the community” and three-time Olympian canoeist who regularly represents the United States in international competitions. 

Dohrmann said it would be a “waste of the court’s resources to impose any conditions” on Hearn ahead of a future trial. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Reddington said prosecutors have “a lot of evidence” in the case and that he wanted the status hearing to be scheduled before a trial. He later said the government wants to “quickly” share its evidence with Hearn’s legal team as part of the required discovery process. 

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro charged Hearn, of Bethesda, Maryland, with destruction of property of more than $1,000 for allegedly vandalizing the newly refinished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19. Trump, who has closely overseen the multi-million-dollar renovation of the Reflecting Pool, has blamed vandals for damage to it.

During a brief press conference outside the D.C. Superior Court Building after the hearing, Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund and a member of Hearn’s legal team, said “every American should be alarmed about this prosecution.”

“This indictment reflects the administration’s effort to scapegoat Davey and to shift blame for their own failures,” Eisen said. 

Federal prosecutors, he said, should never have charged Hearn. 

“It is not a crime to touch the Reflecting Pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” Eisen said. 

Maryland Democratic U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, in whose congressional district Hearn resides, wrote in a statement released during the hearing that “Hearn would never desecrate a federal building or landmark by writing his name on it or affixing his name illegally to it or engaging in any other kind of political graffiti, vandalism or delinquency.”

“I hope—and will do everything I can to guarantee—that Davey gets true due process and a fair trial on these absurdly trumped-up charges,” Raskin added. “It is only a matter of time before an impartial judge and jury recognize that this case has been built on a Kafkaesque arrest and Orwellian charges.”