Charges dropped in Reflecting Pool case as prosecutors say work was ‘botched’

Federal prosecutors Friday acknowledged that contractors hired by the Trump administration had “botched” the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and sought to drop charges against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist who was one of several people accused of vandalizing the landmark.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington said in a court filing that it had received documents showing that the damage to the pool “was the result of a flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, and the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration” July 4.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a Trump ally, asked a Superior Court judge to drop charges against Hearn, 67. He was one of seven people facing charges in connection with what President Donald Trump had claimed, without evidence, were efforts to sabotage his administration’s renovation of the pool.

“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the reflecting pool to vandalism,” Pirro wrote in her motion to the court.

She previously claimed at a news conference July 2 that prosecutors had “tremendous evidence” underpinning the indictment of Hearn, and condemned what she called “unchecked vandalism and civil disorder.”

Hearn was arrested in June after police claimed he had peeled blue-tinted waterproofing off the pool floor. The coating had begun to peel several days before the arrest, according to internal government documents. Hearn said after his arrest that he had merely reached down to touch the peeling lining out of curiosity.

Hearn, who pleaded not guilty last month, was the only person known to be facing a felony charge, rather than a misdemeanor, related to Trump’s false claims of vandalism to the pool. It was unclear if the charges against other defendants were also being dismissed. Pirro’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Hearn’s trial on a charge of destruction of property had been scheduled to begin Sept. 28.

In a statement Friday, lawyers representing him said that the charges should never have been brought.

“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,” the statement said.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Pirro’s filing was notable in that it amounted to a government acknowledgment that the work was problematic. The Interior Department, which oversees the reflecting pool on the National Mall, also did not immediately comment on the case, and Atlantic Industrial Coatings could not immediately be reached.

The Trump administration’s push to renovate the pool has stirred criticism over the cost, more than $16.4 million so far. It has entailed upgrading a water-purification system, sealing leaky joints between the pool’s concrete slabs and coating the slabs with a waterproofing material in a color Trump has called “American flag blue.”

The administration bypassed normal procedures to award no-bid contracts, saying they needed to expedite the project to have it completed by the nation’s 250th birthday July 4.

Algae infestation had been a problem in the pool for years, and after officials removed devices used to combat it the water turned from blue to green as enormous algae blooms spread unchecked. Around the same time, pieces of the new blue lining were also seen peeling and floating up to the pool’s surface.

Trump had claimed at one point that vandals had dumped fertilizer into the pool to feed the algae and had slashed the paint with “knives” in the “dark of night,” but the administration did not provide evidence to support those assertions. None of the people charged were accused of slashing the paint.

Six other people have been arrested on charges of vandalism, federal officials have said. Three face misdemeanor charges of destruction of property under $1,000, court records show.