{"id":23865,"date":"2026-08-01T03:29:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23865"},"modified":"2026-08-01T03:29:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T22:29:23","slug":"trump-administration-drops-reflecting-pool-case-blaming-damage-on-botched-installation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23865","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration drops Reflecting Pool case, blaming damage on \u2018botched\u2019 installation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-6c82de\" class=\"body-graf\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Trump administration has dropped its case against a former Olympic canoeist charged in connection with damage to the Reflecting Pool, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/reflecting-pool-case-witness-conceded-damage-olympic-canoeist-davey-he-rcna589510\" target=\"_blank\">acknowledging their allegations against David \u201cDavey\u201d Hearn<\/a> don\u2019t hold water.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2be93c\" class=\"body-graf\">In a filing Friday afternoon, a supervisor in the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the District of Columbia, which is headed by Jeanine Pirro, wrote that officials obtained information that undermined \u201cthe evidentiary basis for the indictment\u201d against Hearn.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-39ae94\" class=\"body-graf\">Prosecutors said that after the indictment, the Interior Department \u201cprovided additional documents to the USAO-DC indicating that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-7bc309\" class=\"body-graf\">DOJ said they \u201cfirst became aware of information showing that the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism\u201d after reviewing more documents.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-672c42\" class=\"body-graf\">The Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/28528040-doj-admits-reflecting-pool-case-doesnt-hold-water\/\" target=\"_blank\">filing said<\/a> that based on its review of evidence, \u201cit is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-aa065f\" class=\"body-graf\">A spokesperson for Pirro said the filing spoke for itself. Her office also moved to dismiss at least one of the other three misdemeanor cases that had been brought in connection with the Reflecting Pool.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2daafb\" class=\"body-graf\">Hearn had told NBC News that the pool\u2019s condition was exactly the same after he stuck his hands in the water as it was when he arrived.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-ce2e85\" class=\"body-graf\">He pleaded not guilty after he was charged with destruction of property and accused of doing more than $1,000 worth of damage to the pool.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-bd4596\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">\u201cThe Government\u2019s case against Davey Hearn should never have been brought,\u201d Hearn attorney Steven Levin said in a statement  Friday. \u201cIts dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American. The government\u2019s approach was ready, shoot, aim. The federal government owes Mr. Hearn an apology.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"articleDevelopingTag\" data-testid=\"article-developing-tag\">\n<p>This is a<span class=\"articleDevelopingTag__content--red\"> developing <\/span>story. Please check back for updates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-social-share-bottom\">\n<div class=\"styles_expandedBylineContributors__piAGv articleBylineContainer\">\n<div class=\"styles_expandedByline__A_FvE article-expanded-byline\" data-activity-map=\"expanded-byline-article-bottom\">\n<div class=\"byline-thumbnail byline-thumbnail--has-image styles_thumbnail__LPjZA\" data-testid=\"byline-thumbnail\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/author\/ryan-j-reilly-ncpn1288345\" tabindex=\"-1\"><picture data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"focal\" data-original-height=\"48\" data-original-width=\"48\"><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-60x60,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/newscms\/2026_19\/3725336\/260505-1x1-ryan-reilly-headshot-vl-247p.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-60x60,f_auto,q_auto:best\/newscms\/2026_19\/3725336\/260505-1x1-ryan-reilly-headshot-vl-247p.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-60x60,f_auto,q_auto:best\/newscms\/2026_19\/3725336\/260505-1x1-ryan-reilly-headshot-vl-247p.jpg\" alt=\"\" height=\"48\" width=\"48\"\/><\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"expanded-byline__bio-wrapper styles_bio__hOj3l\">\n<p class=\"byline-bio styles_bio__hOj3l\">Ryan J. Reilly is a justice reporter for NBC News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 The Trump administration has dropped its case against a former Olympic canoeist charged in connection with damage to the Reflecting Pool, acknowledging their allegations against David \u201cDavey\u201d Hearn don\u2019t hold water. In a filing Friday afternoon, a supervisor in the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the District of Columbia, which is headed by Jeanine&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260731-reflecting-pool-dc-vsb-1725-99430c.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}