U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro announced a felony indictment of former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, arrested June 19 for allegedly vandalizing President Donald Trump’s newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Pirro said Hearn faces up to 10 years in pri
On a Thursday afternoon, Jeanine Pirro stepped to a podium and laid out a case that seems to collide two worlds: elite athletic history and a newly restored piece of national ceremony.
Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. announced the indictment of former Olympic canoeist David Hearn over allegations that he vandalized President Donald Trump’s newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The U.S. Park Police arrested the 67-year-old, three-time Olympian on June 19, charging him with “destruction of government property.”.
At the heart of Pirro’s announcement is the state of the reflecting pool itself—recently rebuilt and already under public scrutiny. The Reflecting Pool renovation cost $14.65 million and was part of Trump’s broader beautification efforts in Washington. But soon after the work was completed. the water turned green and chunks of sealant peeled off the pool’s bottom. drawing widespread mockery and criticism.
Pirro said a grand jury returned a felony indictment and that Hearn could face up to 10 years in prison. “So. today. a grand jury has returned a felony indictment against a defendant. David Hearn. for felony destruction of property for which he faces ten years in prison. ” she said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon. “The indictment is in response to an incident that occurred on June 19th of 2026 in which the defendant Hearn ripped a piece of recently installed sealant on the bottom of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial.”.
Hearn’s explanation, as he described it in an interview with The Washington Post, sharply differs from Pirro’s account. He said he had paused a 52-mile bike ride to reach into the water and see what the peeling blue sealant of the algae-riddled pool “felt like.”
Pirro, however, portrayed the decision to touch and damage the pool as deliberate. She said there is enough evidence to prove Hearn intentionally inflicted harm. “The evidence shows. and we will prove beyond a reasonable doubt. that Hearn willfully destroyed property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. 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. By Hearn’s own admission on June 19 he reached down into the pool. Our evidence further shows that the National Park Service employees observed Hearn actually forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands.”.
Pirro added that, based on witnesses, Hearn damaged approximately two square feet of sealant from the pool.
She also described the moment Parks staff confronted him. According to Pirro. witnesses characterized Hearn’s attitude and behavior as “belligerent. rude and disrespectful.” She said a Parks employee told him to stop—then said he shouted back. “A Parks employee actually told Hearn to stop, to stop his behavior and stop what he was doing,” Pirro said. “Hearn reacted by shouting at that Parks’ employee saying that she cared too much about the Reflecting Pool and. ‘Why did she even care since it wasn’t her pool?’”.
That clash—Hearn saying he was simply checking the surface during a bike ride, while Pirro says Parks employees saw him tearing up the liner and removing sealant—has become the dividing line in the case.
The lawsuit against a restoration already plagued by visible problems has added an extra layer of pressure to the question many residents and visitors were already asking: why the pool’s condition deteriorated so quickly, and who—if anyone—should be held responsible for making it worse.
Jeanine Pirro David Hearn indictment Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism U.S. Park Police National Park Service Trump beautification DC politics felony destruction of government property