US Olympian indicted over alleged vandalism of DC reflecting pool
David Hearn, a three-time US Olympian canoeist, has been charged with maliciously damaging the lining of Washington's reflecting pool. The indictment follows President Trump's claims of vandalism after a $14.7 million renovation, but Hearn's lawyers deny the allegations.
A grand jury in Washington DC has indicted David Hearn, 67, a three-time US Olympian canoeist, on a felony charge of maliciously breaking or destroying the bottom liner of the city's reflecting pool on June 19. The pool had just undergone a $14.7 million renovation ordered by President Donald Trump, but shortly after completion, an algae bloom turned the water green. Trump alleged that a 300-foot 'gash' had been cut in the sealant, though no photographic evidence has been released.
US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro announced the charge at a press conference, stating that prosecutors have 'tremendous evidence' that Hearn 'forcefully and violently' pulled up the liner and was 'belligerent' and 'disrespectful' when National Park Service employees asked him to stop. 'Today is about accountability for damaging a national resource, a national treasure,' she said.
Hearn's attorneys, Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, called the charges 'outrageous' and 'alarming,' accusing the Trump administration of misusing government power against an ordinary citizen. Hearn, who was initially arrested on a misdemeanor charge, claimed he only touched a partly detached piece of the liner and did not vandalize anything. He had just finished a 52-mile bike ride and stopped to see the refurbished pool.
The reflecting pool, built in 1922, runs over 2,000 feet between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. It is the site where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech in 1963. Trump had previously boasted that his renovation would be far more successful than previous ones and awarded a no-bid contract to a company that had done work on swimming pools at one of his golf clubs.
