Ex-Olympic canoer arrested at Reflecting Pool indicted by DC grand jury

Administration Ex-Olympic canoer arrested at Reflecting Pool indicted by DC grand jury Comments: by Ryan Mancini - 07/02/26 3:49 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Ryan Mancini - 07/02/26 3:49 PM ET Comments: Link copied

NOW PLAYING

A Washington, D.C., grand jury returned a felony indictment against former Olympian David Hearn in connection with damage found at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced on Thursday.

Hearn, 67, was indicted on the count of felony destruction of property and faces 10 years in prison. Pirro said that on June 19, Hearn allegedly “ripped a piece of recently installed sealant on the bottom of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial.”

“This was a deliberate act to damage the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall, that members of the National Park Service actually have worked hard to restore and have witnessed,” she said at a press conference.

Pirro accused Hearn of “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands,” damaging two square feet of sealant, citing testimony from witnesses. She added that during the incident, a National Park Service (NPS) employee advised Hearn to stop before he yelled back about why she cared about the pool.

“There was an effort, a violent effort, to rip up the sealant from the bottom of the pool,” she said. “And irrespective of whether or not, you know, we think that, you know, there is some situation that preceded it. We can state and prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he caused damage, and that damage is over $1,000.”

When asked if Hearn allegedly used tools or his bare hands, Pirro said investigators “believe it’s his bare hands, both hands.”

She defended the indictment when asked if Hearn was charged harshly, saying she charges based on evidence.

“When we have witnesses, when we have the defendant on record saying things that are not true, and we have witnesses who are disinterested, who have no motive to lie, they have no agenda, they’re just working there,” Pirro said. “And they are actually witnessing damage to a national monument. We’re going to go forward.”

Pirro said there were six other cases stemming from six arrests made so far in connection with the Reflecting Pool. These cases are under review, but she said that some “of them will be misdemeanors and some of them could be less, like a violation.”

Hearn’s legal team, attorneys Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, said the indictment “should be alarming to every American.”

“This indictment reflects the administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures,” Eisen and Dohrmann said in a statement. “On the eve of our nation’s Independence Day, Americans should be deeply concerned by the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative. The justice system exists to determine facts, not provide political cover.”

Hearn, a resident of Bethesda, Md., who was arrested on misdemeanor charges last month, denied any wrongdoing in connection with the damage to the pool and said he was “never read” his Miranda rights at the time of his arrest.

“I didn’t vandalize anything,” he told The Washington Post. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”

Following the incident, Pirro vowed to prosecute individuals caught vandalizing the pool.

President Trump previously appeared to point to vandalism as a means to deflect blame for the Reflecting Pool’s water quality and maintenance issues following a renovation project last month. Trump had the pool drained and the bottom coated in “American flag blue” paint.

He speculated that fertilizer was poured into the pool to cause the algae blooms to grow, and said vandals used a box cutter or knife to cut a roughly 300-foot slit through the pool’s coating.

The paint has been seen floating in the pool’s waters, which turned green due to algae blooms. The Interior Department directed cleaning crews to pour hydrogen peroxide and using special nanobubbler technology to kill algae, pathogens and other contaminants.

Updated at 3:58 p.m. EDT

Add as preferred source on Google Tags Donald Trump Jeanine Pirro

Comments: Link copied