Justice department moves to dismiss its charges against Olympian over reflecting pool

Lawyers now say damage to pool liner attributed to David Hearn instead is result of installation by contractor The justice department has moved to dismiss a criminal case charging former Olympian David Hearn with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial‘ reflecting pool, instead blaming damage to the pool liner as “the result of flawed installation by the contractor”. Government lawyers said in a 20-page court filing in DC superior court on Friday evening that they had received information about a “rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026”. Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said that her office had received documents from the Department of the Interior only “after the return of the indictment” showing that damage to the pool occurred prior to Hearn visiting the reflecting pool and put his hand in the water on 19 June. Hearn had denied administration claims of pool sabotage and the charge that followed. The documents “indicated a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling o